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COPYRIGHT DEPOSnv 



^ The Quest for 
Dean Bridgman Conner 



BY 



ANTHONY J. PHILPOTT 




BOSTON 

JOHN W. LUCE AND COMPANY 

MCMXV 



p l^^' 

^^c^ 



Copyright, 1915 
Bt ANTHONY J. PHILPOTT 



DEC 10 1915^ 

©CI.A414974^ 
1,1^ J I 



dedicated to 

General Charles H. Taylor 

a real newspaper man 



INTRODUCTION 

The search for Dean Bridgman Conner in 
Mexico under the clairvoyant instructions of 
the famous medium, Mrs. Leonora E. Piper, 
and under the guidance of Dr. Richard Hodg- 
son, secretary of the American Branch of the 
Society for Psychical Research, was in many 
respects one of the strangest quests ever under- 
taken by a newspaper man or anybody else. 
But the full significance of the unravelling of 
the mystery was not so clearly comprehended 
at the time as it is today. Nor were the full 
bearing and significance of the investigation, 
in its relation to Psychical Research and psy- 
chic phenomena, so clearly understood; for 
through this case Dr. Hodgson and others 
confidently expected that the "Spiritistic" 
theory of immortality, which had been sug- 
gested as the only solution of Mrs. Piper's 
strange mediumistic powers, would be com- 
pletely demonstrated. 

And this would, in all probability, result in 
the promulgation of a new religion — a religion 
that would rest on a basis of conviction sup- 
ported by facts obtained through laborious 
investigations and by scientific methods. Nat- 
urally it was expected that such a religion would 

[v] 



Introduction 

supersede the religions based on spiritual ex- 
altation, prophecy and faith. J 

It was a case that had all the elements of a 
great mystery. A young American dies — or 
is supposed to have died — in Mexico; later, 
his father in Burlington, Vt., has a vivid dream 
in which the son assures him he is not dead but 
that he is alive and is being held for ransom. 
Mrs. Piper, in the trance state, and under the 
auspices of Dr. Richard Hodgson, substantiates 
the father's dream. Then follow two investi- 
gations in Mexico which only make the mys- 
tery more mysterious, and finally I am sent to 
clear the thing up one way or the other — to 
solve the mystery if possible. 

One important thing about the case was the 
fact that in it were focalized some of the most 
important matters that had been under in- 
vestigation by the Society for Psychical Re- 
search. There was a vivid dream; there was 
clairvoyance, automatic writing, telepathy over 
long distances, and finally there was a supreme 
test of the "spirit controls" that spoke through 
Mrs. Piper. These were the same "spirit con- 
trols" that had been investigated by Prof. 
William James, Professor Hyslop and others 
in this country; by Sir William Crookes, 
F. W. H. Myers, Edmund Gurney, Sir Oliver 
Lodge, Professor Sidgwick, Alfred Wallace 
and others in England; Professor Richet and 

[vi] 



Introduction 

Paul Bou^rget in France, and many other emi- 
nent scientists. Mrs. Piper's extraordinary 
powers had amazed them all and had led some 
of them to the conclusion that the spirits of 
dead people spoke through her. And finally 
there was the adventure of attempting to prove 
all this, one way or the other, under unusual 
circumstances in a foreign land; besides the 
further adventure involved in the rescue of a 
young man who was supposed to be held cap- 
tive in a strange institution in a remote part 
of Mexico. 

In the whole course of my newspaper ex- 
perience I never worked harder nor more con- 
scientiously on a problem than on this mystery 
in which the death of Dean Bridgman Conner 
in Mexico was involved. My studies and re- 
searches covered a period of five months, during 
which time I travelled more than eleven 
thousand miles in the United States and 
Mexico. 

As a piece of newspaper work, at the time 
it was so far removed from the beaten path 
of general news that it was regarded by many 
people as a fake — or as fiction — which after 
all only emphasizes anew the fact that truth 
in the affairs of life is very often much stranger 
than fiction. 

For a long time I refrained from writing out 
a full narrative of my experiences in the case, 

f vii 1 



Introduction 

because of the embarrassment it might cause a 
number of people, but so many have urged 
me on the ground that it would be a most 
important contribution to Psychical Research, 
that I decided to do it. And curiously enough 
— so deep an impression did everything con- 
nected with the case make on me — I found 
the facts were as vivid in my mind as when I 
worked on the mystery. It is the sort of thing 
one does not cease thinking about nor easily 
forget, and time has only enabled me to see 
more clearly many things which were rather 
vague eighteen years ago. Time has also 
vindicated my conclusions in the case. It was 
due to the enterprise of Gen. Charles H. Taylor 
of the Boston Globe that the mystery was cleared 
up. He felt that it should be cleared up and he 
paid the bills. 

A. J. P. 



viii ] 



THE QUEST FOR 
DEAN BRIDGMAN CONNER 



CHAPTER I 

I might as well introduce myself to the 
reader by means of the following letter, the 
necessity for which will appear later: 

Department of State 
Washington 

January 23, 1897. 

To the Diplomatic and Consular Officers 

of the United States in Mexico: 
Gentlemen : 

I take pleasure in herewith introducing Mr. 
A. J. Philpott, who is visiting Mexico for the 
purpose of ascertaining, if possible, the where- 
abouts of Dean Bridgman Conner, a young 
man formerly a resident of Burlington, Vt. 
You will extend to Mr. Philpott all possible 
official assistance for the successful prosecution 
of his efforts. 

I am, Gentlemen, 

Your obedient servant, 

Richard Olney. 

[1] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Mr. Olney was then Secretary of State under 
President Cleveland, and the letter is intro- 
duced here so that there will be no misunder- 
standing in regard to the mission on which 
I went to Mexico, to dispel any doubts regard- 
ing the seriousness of that mission and to make 
clear the importance attached to it. 

But before this letter was penned by the 
Secretary of State — for nearly two years 
before — the case of Dean Bridgman Conner 
had been a great mystery and had been the 
cause of much uneasiness and anxiety for two 
very different reasons. But the astounding 
thing about the mystery was that it all practi- 
cally began with a dream. 

It was on a night some months after the 
reported death of Dean Bridgman Conner 
in the American hospital in the City of Mexico 
that his father, Mr. W. H. H. Conner, in 
Burlington, Vt., had this vivid dream in which 
the son appeared and said he was not dead, 
but was alive, and held a captive in Mexico. 

That was startling enough. But a little 
later the dream attained additional importance, 
wider interest and more significance, when 
it was substantiated by Dr. Richard Hodgson, 
secretary of the American Branch of the 
Society for Psychical Research, and by the 
eminent trance medium, Mrs. Leonora E. Piper. 

The dream had been tested by Dr. Hodgson, 

[2] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

considered the ablest psychical investigator in 
America at the time, and he was aided in his 
test by Mrs. Piper, whose remarkable clair- 
voyant powers have astonished many of the 
foremost investigators and scientists of Europe 
and America. 

This verification of the dream resulted in 
three separate investigations and searches, in 
the Republic of Mexico, for Dean Bridgman 
Conner, by persons sent especially for the 
purpose; and they worked largely through the 
instructions of Dr. Hodgson, under the clair- 
voyant guidance of Mrs. Piper. I conducted 
the third of these investigations. 



Dean Bridgman Conner was a respected 
young man, about twenty-seven years old, 
when he went from the United States to the 
City of Mexico, in the latter part of 1894, 
to work in Orrin's circus and theatre as elec- 
trician and manager of the lights. After his 
arrival in the city he worked about ten weeks 
when he was taken seriously ill with typhoid 
fever. After the first week of his illness he 
was removed, on the Slst of February, 1895, 
from the house in which he lodged to the 
American hospital on the outskirts of the cityc 

Twenty-three days later the American Consul- 
General in the City of Mexico sent word to 

[3] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Mr. W. H. H. Conner in Burlington, Vt., that 
his son. Dean Bridgman Conner, had died in 
the American hospital and had been buried 
in the American cemetery, near the hospital. 

The American Consul-General at the time 
was Ex-Governor Thomas T. Crittenden, of 
Missouri. When Mr. Conner was first notified 
of his son's illness he wired the Consul-General 
urging that no expense be spared in the matter 
of care and medical attendance. 

Soon after the funeral Consul-General Crit- 
tenden forwarded the baggage and personal 
effects to the parents at Burlington, Vt., and 
wrote a letter which deeply impressed them; 
for it showed that he was a kindly gentleman 
who had done all that was possible for their 
son during his illness at the hospital and in 
providing for the interment in the American 
cemetery. He said he had attended the 
funeral and had placed a flower, moistened 
with tears, on the young man's grave. And 
he said that Dean had been buried under the 
Stars and Stripes. 

It is no wonder then that Consul-General 
Crittenden should, in the language of diplomacy, 
"consider the incident closed." 

But it wasn't closed. 

The father's vivid dream opened it all up 
anew — opened up every circumstance and 
incident in the life of Dean Bridgman Conner 

[4] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

in Mexico, and caused the Consul-General 
and others considerable trouble and anxiety 
for several years thereafter; to say nothing 
of three of the strangest quests ever under- 
taken to discover the whereabouts of a person 
whose death and burial had been officially 
registered, but who, in spite of that fact, was 
reported to be alive and held captive in some 
remote part of Mexico. 

While Governor of Missouri Thomas T. 
Crittenden had gained some notoriety through 
his connection with the death of the noted 
outlaw, Jesse James. It was because of the 
reward offered by the Governor that Jesse 
James was shot and killed under unusual 
circumstances. Although the method rather 
shocked the public at the time, yet the dastardly 
character of the bandit was considered sufficient 
excuse for so unusual a proceeding. 



[5] 



CHAPTER II 

From the day word was received of Dean 
Bridgman Conner's death there had been an 
undercurrent of suspicion and doubt about the 
matter in the minds of sev^eral people — rela- 
tives and friends — in Burlington, Vt. At first 
there was nothing particularly tangible on 
which to base these suspicions aind doubts 
except possibly a feeling or "hunch" which 
seemed to possess both Mr. and Mrs. Prentiss 
C. Dodge from the moment when they heard of 
Dean's illness. 

Mrs. Prentiss C. Dodge had known Dean 
Bridgman Conner from his childhood and had 
always entertained a very tender regard for 
him. Her husband, Prentiss C. Dodge, also 
thought a great deal of the young man. In 
fact, he was regarded almost as a member of 
the Dodge household, and was always welcome 
there. 

Mrs. Dodge could not bring herself to be- 
lieve that he was dead. She felt there was 
something wrong — some mystery — about his 
reported death, and she communicated her 
suspicions and fears both to her husband and 
to the young man's father, W. H. H. Conner, 
who was at that time assistant postmaster of 

[6] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Burlington. Letters they received in response 
to inquiries from people in Mexico did not 
tend to allay their suspicions, but rather to 
increase them. No responsible person, as far 
as they could learn, had actually seen the body 
of Dean Bridgman Conner after death. 

Some importance was also attached to the 
fact that a jewel, or jewels, of an unknown 
value, the property of the young man, had not 
been returned with his effects from Mexico. 
The Consul-General's explanation regarding 
these missing jewels was not considered wholly 
satisfactory. And, by that curious process of 
mental indirection which associates unrelated 
things, their attitude toward the Consul-Gen- 
eral was probably tinctured by their feelings 
regarding the Jesse James homicide. 

So all that was needed about this time was 
that vivid dream of the young man's father to 
bring these vague suspicions and doubts to a 
focus. 

But how prove the dream? 

The dream simply strengthened Mrs. Dodge 
and others in their suspicions, for these sus- 
picions and doubts had become so strong and 
dominant that even "the fabric of a dream" 
looked like real evidence. Still it was not the 
kind of evidence that would be accepted by 
the average person, loath as most people are to 
believe that there is not something in dreams. 

[7] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

One thing that gave Mr. Conner's dream 
some immediate standing and dignity in Bur- 
lington, Vt., was the fact that he himself was 
not the kind of a man who had ever been re- 
garded as a dreamer or a visionary. He was 
regarded as a practical man. 

But this was an unusual dream, and under 
the circumstances it was both startling and 
dramatic. To Mrs. Dodge and others it seemed 
like an occult demonstration — a voice out of 
oblivion — that gave weight and authority to 
existing doubts and suspicions. It was of 
especial significance to Mr. and Mrs. Dodge, 
who were more than academically interested 
in the mysterious phenomena associated with 
spiritualism. The dream fitted perfectly into 
the fabric of their feelings and suspicions about 
Dean Bridgman Conner. 

Yet the dream ought to be proved or sub- 
stantiated in some way. But how.^^ Every age 
has its dream interpreters as well as its dream- 
ers; its visionaries and prophets as well as its 
pessimists and doubters. At this particular 
time the Society for Psychical Research, which 
included in its membership many eminent 
scientists and scholars of Europe and America, 
was busying itself — or themselves — with the 
study of dreams, delusions, illusions and all 
kinds of subnormal and abnormal mental 
phenomena. 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

There were two branches of this Society, 
the English and the American. Dr. Richard 
Hodgson was secretary of the American Branch 
and he was indefatigable in his pursuit and 
investigation of strange mental phenomena, 
including dreams, illusions, spirit communica- 
tions, etc. He was a terror to fake spiritual- 
ists, fake mediums, fake clairvoyants and fak- 
ers of this kind generally. So, naturally, when 
he put the stamp of his approval on any kind 
of mental manifestation, whether it was a 
dream or a spiritualistic phenomenon, that 
meant a great deal — it was in a large measure 
authoritative. 

It was Rev. Minot J. Savage who advised 
Mr. W. H. H. Conner and his friends to sub- 
mit the dream to Dr^ Richard Hodgson. Mr. 
Savage was an eminent Unitarian divine who 
had been interested in the study of dreams, 
visions and such phenomena. At this par- 
ticular time, however, he had given up such 
studies largely because the American Branch 
of the Society for Psychical Research had 
taken up this line of investigation and had 
more and better facilities for pursuing it. 

It was through these investigations that Dr. 
Hodgson became interested in Mrs. Piper. 
Both he and Prof. William James, who had been 
a president of the Society for Psychical Re- 
search, had carefully tested and investigated 

[9] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Mrs. Piper. Her mysterious power while in the 
trance state had also been investigated by such 
scientists as Professor Richet of Paris, Sir Oliver 
Lodge, Lord Crookes, Paul Bourget and others, 
and she had baffled them all. So successful 
had she been in the tests to which she had been 
subjected that at this time Dr. Hodgson had 
the greatest faith in her mysterious powers 
and used her as a sort of "official medium" 
and demonstrator of the occult for the Society. 

So when the dream of W. H. H. Conner had 
been tested and approved by Dr. Hodgson and 
Mrs. Piper it is little wonder that the friends 
and relatives of Dean Bridgman Conner be- 
came very much excited. Who wouldn't under 
such circumstances? 

Mrs. Piper was no ordinary medium. Some 
of the biggest men in the world regarded her 
as an oracle. People — eminent people — 
came from all over the world to consult her 
and have "sittings" with her while she was in 
the trance state. Her automatic writings, or 
her utterances, while in this trance state were 
regarded with as much faith as ever were the 
utterances of a Delphic oracle by the ancient 
Greeks. A new kind of religion was being 
built around this woman by such men as Dr. 
Hodgson. They had been convinced that 
through her sensitive mind and body spirits 
of the known dead had spoken and written. 

[10] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Through her the age-long riddle of immortality 
and a spirit world had been solved to their 
satisfaction. 

This new religion was not to be taken on 
faith — it was to be taken on a kind of evi- 
dence which satisfied scientific investigators. 
Through her the scientific mind was feeling 
its way by cautious experimentation and in- 
vestigation into the spirit world and proving 
immortality by scientific methods, and by new 
processes of deduction. True, there was noth- 
ing inspiring in this woman when she was in 
the normal state, but when she was in the 
trance state she was different. She didn't 
then know what she said or did; she was simply 
a "medium" of communication between the 
spirit world and Dr. Hodgson and the others 
who were present at such times, who had 
"sittings" with her. 

There were certain spirits of known and un- 
known dead that spoke through Mrs. Piper 
while in the trance state, and these were known 
to Dr. Hodgson and the others who had in- 
vestigated her. Dr. Hodgson had always been 
a materialist whose materialism was based on 
Herbert Spencer's philosophy, until he met 
and investigated Mrs. Piper. She changed him 
— changed his whole life — made him a firm 
believer in a new spiritualism. He called it, 
and others called it, "Spiritism." 

[ 11 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Is it any wonder that the dream in this 
particular case was accepted when it had such 
approval? 

Such well-known spirits as "Phinuit" or 
"Dr. Phinuit" — one of the first and earliest 
spirits that spoke through Mrs. Piper — had 
verified the dream. Other known spirits had 
also verified the dream. 

When Dr. Hodgson was appealed to he asked 
for some of Dean Bridgman Conner's personal 
effects; something tangible relating to his per- 
sonality — clothes or trinkets that Mrs. Piper 
could touch while she was in the trance state 
or that should be near her at the moment. 
Some "effects" were forwarded to him and he 
had a "sitting" with Mrs. Piper. 



[12] 



CHAPTER III 

At the first "sitting" Mrs. Piper's spirit 
"controls" could do nothing, so more "effects" 
were sent for. Then Mr. Prentiss C. Dodge 
came down from Burlington to Boston and 
brought with him some letters which had been 
written by the young man from Mexico, some 
photographs and personal effects. Mrs. Piper 
was not permitted to see either the letters or 
the photographs, but at the next "sitting," 
which Mr. Dodge attended in company with 
Dr. Hodgson, he had these letters and photo- 
graphs with him. 

At the second "sitting" Mrs. Piper gave 
the name of the young man, described in de- 
tail his trip by steamer from New York to 
Vera Cruz and thence overland to the City of 
Mexico; his work in the circus; his sickness in 
the hospital, from which she claimed he had 
been kidnapped the night of his reported death, 
while the body of a patient who had died in the 
next ward or room had been substituted for 
Dean Bridgman Conner, and had been buried 
in the American cemetery under Conner's 
name. Mrs. Piper also described the American 
hospital very minutely; the matron of the in- 
stitution, and gave her name; the head phy- 

[13] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

sician, and gave his name; and explained that 
the young man during his illness had been 
confined in a room in a building at the rear of 
the main building. She claimed that he had 
been taken from the hospital at night by the 
"south road," and vaguely intimated that he 
was being held for ransom or some other dark 
purpose. That was all the information she 
could give at that time and for some months 
thereafter, owing to an illness during which 
she could give no "sittings." 

But that was enough. The dream had been 
confirmed by the greatest medium in the world, 
a medium in whom the eminent scientists and 
investigators of the Psychical Research Society 
had faith. A verification from such a source 
was like giving the dream the substance of 
scientific backing, and naturally the people in 
Burlington, Vt., were very much elated and 
excited. 

In the meantime the people in Burlington 
had been further investigating, through corre- 
spondence, the circumstances connected with 
the illness and reported death of the young 
man. A photograph of the hospital had been 
received from the Consul-General, on which 
he marked a window in the front of the main 
building, stating that in the marked room Dean 
had died, when in point of fact it was learned 
that the young man had been placed in the 

[14] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

contagious ward at the rear of the main build- 
ing, a fact which Mrs. Piper also corroborated. 
Why the Consul-General should have made 
this statement is a mystery, unless it was that 
he did it in the same spirit in which he made 
some other statements — a desire to satisfy 
the young man's parents and friends in Bur- 
lington and relieve their minds at the expense 
of a little fiction which seemingly would not be 
found out when the interested parties were 
over four thousand miles away. 

Some things were learned about the hospital 
which did not tend to allay the suspicions of 
the people in Burlington, and when added to 
these came Mrs. Piper's verification of the 
dream, it was decided to send Mr. Dodge to 
Mexico at once to investigate the case and 
bring back the young man, if possible, from 
his enforced captivity. 



115 



CHAPTER IV 

To Prentiss C. Dodge, Mexico was a land of 
mystery, a land in which any sort of dark deed 
was possible, and inhabited by a treacherous 
people. He was filled with suspicions from the 
start, and he found some things after his 
arrival in the City of Mexico which tended 
to strengthen his suspicions regarding the al- 
leged death of Dean Bridgman Conner. 

After his arrival in the City of Mexico Mr. 
Dodge paid a visit to the American hospital 
and found that, as he had learned and as Mrs. 
Piper had stated, young Conner had occupied 
a room in the contagious ward, which was in 
the rear of the main building. The matron, 
Mrs. Netterburgh, told him the circumstances 
of Dean's sickness, death and burial. She had 
not seen the body after death, but she was 
very positive the y^oung man had died and had 
been buried in the American cemetery near by. 
A Mexican male nurse who had attended young 
Conner was produced, but as he could speak 
very little English, he did not make much of an 
impression on Mr. Dodge, who, on the whole, 
did not like the appearance of things at the 
hospital. The head physician. Dr. Bray, did 
not impress him favorably either. Mr. Dodge 

[16] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

thought he detected subterfuge in much that 
was said. 

The Consul-General had not attended the 
funeral as he said he had — in fact, nobody 
but the two Mexican mozos, who carried the 
coffin on their heads to the American cemetery 
early on that March morning, and the care- 
takers and workmen of the cemetery had been 
present at the interment. No trace of the 
precious stones which Conner was supposed to 
have owned could be found. 

Mrs. Piper had insisted that the body in 
the cemetery be exhumed to prove that what 
she said was correct. It was some time before 
Mr. Dodge could get permission to do this, 
however, owing to the fact that the death of 
the occupant of grave 559 in the American 
cemetery had been reported as caused by a 
contagious disease. But he finally got the 
requisite permit from the government, and in 
the presence of several American residents of 
the City of Mexico the body was exhumed 
after it had been in the ground for about a 
year. Four teeth were removed from the upper 
jaw of the skull, a lock of hair was cut off, and 
the skull photographed on the edge of the 
grave. 

Mr. Dodge was pretty well convinced at the 
time that the body which was exhumed was 
the body of his friend, Dean Bridgman Conner, 

[17] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

and so wired the young man's father. The 
grave in the American cemetery was an ordi- 
nary one, and the young man's parents had 
been given to understand that the grave in 
which Dean had been interred, and for which 
they had paid, was a cemented and brick- 
Hned grave. So Dr. Richard Hodgson was 
wired for more "Hght," if possible, from Mrs. 
Piper on the subject, and Mr. Dodge received 
the following telegram: 

"Piper sitting yesterday. Phinuit said Dean 
taken along south road into country house. 
George went to see and said Dean had been 
taken to Tuxedo. No chance for another 
sitting. Hodgson." 

This needs a little explanation. "Phinuit," 
or "Dr. Phinuit," as he is called, is one of the 
"controls" or "spirits" that are said to take 
possession of Mrs. Piper while she is in the 
trance state, and speak through her. " George," 
or "George Pelham," is another. Those who 
have had many sittings with Mrs. Piper recog- 
nize almost immediately these wandering spirits 
from another world who speak through her, 
for each has distinguishing characteristics ap- 
parently, and might be said to possess distinct 
lines of ability in the spirit world. Dr. 
Phinuit was Mrs. Piper's first and only "con- 
trol" for a number of years. He claimed to 
have been a French doctor who had lived in 

[18] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

the south of France during the latter part of 
the eighteenth century. No record of such a 
doctor has ever been found. He tells some 
first-class lies on occasion, but he seems to 
regard a lie as a good joke. George Pelham 
is a later and apparently a more reliable 
"control." 

But to come back to the telegram. Mr. 
Dodge found it rather hazy and could not 
discover any place named "Tuxedo" in Mexico. 
This telegram possesses some significance, how- 
ever, which will be explained later. 

So, after some further investigations, which 
resulted in little, Mr. Dodge came home with 
the teeth, hair and photographs of the skull 
and a great many doubts and fears. He could 
not find any "south road" leading from the 
hospital, in front of which there was a very 
ordinary street which led into the main street 
that runs into the heart of the City of Mexico 
from Tlaxpana. He found that a railroad ran 
from the City of Mexico somewhat to the south- 
east, which branched off to the city of Puebla. 
This railroad also went to Orizaba and Vera 
Cruz. He came home with many strange im- 
pressions of the country, its people and its 
architecture. 

His non-success, however, did not discourage 
the people in Burlington who were interested 
in the case — in fact, it only appeared to in- 

[19] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

tensify their convictions that Dean Bridgman 
Conner was alive. 

The teeth were examined by a dentist in 
Burlington who had done work on the young 
man's teeth some years previously, and he 
pronounced them as not the teeth of Dean 
Bridgman Conner. The hair was examined by 
an eminent physician and bacteriologist of the 
same city, who had known young Conner, and 
it was compared with a sample in the possession 
of Mrs. Dodge and pronounced as not the hair 
of the young man. The photographs of the 
skull were also rejected. 

Here, then, was the testimony of scientific 
experts practically backing up Dr. Hodgson, 
Mrs. Piper and the dream. So, whatever 
doubts Mr. Dodge might have had were thus 
smothered, and he, too, became convinced 
that the body in grave 559 of the American 
cemetery in the City of Mexico was not that 
of Dean Bridgman Conner. The only thing 
left, however, was to wait patiently for the 
recovery of Mrs. Piper, on whom the burden 
of locating the young man was now placed. 



[20] 



CHAPTER V 

It was in the spring of 1896 tliat Mr. Dodge 
returned from Mexico and not until October of 
the same year was Mrs. Piper in condition to 
continue her clairvoyant "sittings." 

These "sittings" were of a somewhat start- 
ling character, and resulted in a second visit 
to Mexico by Mr. Dodge in company with Dr. 
Sparhawk, a physician of Burlington who had 
known Dean Bridgman Conner intimately. 

Just to show the kind of information which 
Mrs. Piper gives, or rather gave, while in the 
trance state, it might be well to give a ver- 
batim transcript of a few of the "sittings" 
with Dr. Hodgson and Mr. Dodge. It should 
be understood that Mrs. Piper, while in the 
trance state, wrote on a paper pad with a 
lead pencil, in a scrawl which was very diffi- 
cult to read. Her face usually rested on a 
pillow, on a table in front of her, so she could 
not see the paper on which she wrote. Dr. 
Hodgson guided the hand and removed each 
sheet of paper as fast as it was written upon. 
He later transcribed Mrs. Piper's writing and 
added thereto, by way of explanation, sentences 
and paragraphs such as will be found enclosed 
in parentheses in the accompanying transcript. 

[21] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

In parentheses will also be found the questions 
which Dr. Hodgson asked the "controls" 
during the progress of the "sitting." 

"G. P.," or George Pelham, as has been 
said, is supposed to be one of Mrs. Piper's 
best "controls." Before his death he was an 
intimate friend of Dr. Hodgson's, who prom- 
ised that if he should die before Dr. Hodgson 
and found that there was a future life he 
would use every effort to communicate with 
the latter. Dr. Hodgson made a similar prom- 
ise, and they agreed on certain matters, known 
only to themselves, to be communicated for 
the purpose of making identification certain. 
George Pelham met with an accident which 
resulted in his death, and soon after Dr. Hodg- 
son received a communication from him while 
Mrs. Piper was in the trance state. Identifi- 
cation, by the very test agreed upon between 
the men, was established, and thereafter 
George Pelham's spirit was not only the most 
powerful and reliable of Mrs. Piper's "con- 
trols," but became in a large measure the guid- 
ing spirit of the policy of Dr. Hodgson's life up 
to the day of his death. 

Dr. Phinuit, as has been said, was for a long 
time Mrs. Piper's first and only "control." 
Some of his communications, as recorded in 
numerous reports, have been very remarkable, 
but it was early discovered that this spirit of 

[^2] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

an eighteenth-century French physician had a 
very common human characteristic — he lied. 
He didn't always lie; in fact, he very often told 
what proved to be the truth, and this made it 
more difficult to understand his apparent ten- 
dency to lie. He was apt to mingle truth and 
falsehood in a way that created complete con- 
fusion in the minds of investigators. 

Finally, however, when he was openly charged 
with lying he laughed and his explanation was 
so ingenuous that it only served to strengthen 
the conviction that he was indeed a true spirit 
of an earth-born creature, and a very ordinary 
one at that. He turned out to be one of the 
practical jokers of the spirit world, one whose 
sense of humor was satisfied by misleading 
others through lying or dissembling. The ex- 
cuse he offered was that the spirits occasionally 
enjoyed the confusion of human beings who 
could be misled. 

Yet this excuse was accepted without ques- 
tion by even exacting, scientific investigators, 
probably because it explained some things that 
otherwise seemed unexplainable. However, it 
put the investigators on their guard against 
Dr. Phinuit, for even a scientific investigator 
does not relish being made the victim of a 
practical joke by a spirit any more than by an 
ordinary mortal. In fact, most people would 
prefer the practical jokes of an ordinary per- 

[23] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

son in the flesh to the inscrutable humor of an 
invisible joker like Dr. Phinuit. 

So it was a great relief to Dr. Hodgson and 
the other investigators of what came to be 
known as the "Piper Phenomena" when other 
and more reliable spirits began to speak and 
manifest themselves when Mrs. Piper was in 
the trance state. 

There were several other "controls," such 
as "John Heard," "Moses," "Imperator" and 
"Rector," that took possession of Mrs. Piper. 



[24 



CHAPTER VI 

The following transcript from a verbatim 
report of one of the "sittings" with Mrs. 
Piper, held with Mr. Dodge and Dr. Hodgson, 
gives a fair idea of the case of Dean Bridgman 
Conner after Mr. Dodge's return from Mexico 
the first time. It will be noticed that George 
Pelham in this "sitting" refers to the agree- 
ment made between himself and Dr. Hodgson 
before Pelham's death where he says, "Hodg- 
son, I gave my word I would prove myself to 
you." A peculiarity of all the communications 
through Mrs. Piper is their broken, fragmen- 
tary character, and a certain nervous effort in 
them. There is also what looks like "fishing" 
for a suggestion from those present. 

Report of Sitting with Mrs. Piper, 
October 21, 1896 

Present: P. C. Dodge and Richard Hodgson. 
(George Pelham, writing.) 

Comment by Dr. Hodgson: (Hand much 
excited. I urge not to be so excited, etc.) 

G. P. writes: I now see his father and I can- 
not wait . . . speak to me and I will prove 
my friendship for you, sir. How are you, Mr. 
(Mrs.?) 

[25] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Dodge: Very nicely. 

G. P. writes: I see you and now listen. I 
am so glad to see you sir because my mind is 
troubled — for you, and I will now put you on 
track of your boy Dean. Thanks for obedience. 
It was not his body in that grave as I told you 
before. Now he is in a rather demented state 
of mind in a hospital for insane patients and 
he is in the south of the same country, Mexico. 
I see a dark gentleman or a man with him con- 
tinuously. He is there as true as you're alive. 
Give me something now. Oh do. Oh do. 

(Dodge gets articles from a box full of 
clothes, etc., of Dean, which he has taken to 
sitting.) 

G. P. writes: This is the way it is. Driven 
almost to despair because of Palmer, he after 
his quarrel with Palmer never was happy, and 
went there because of Palmer. I can prove 
every statement I may make to Palmer if you 
so wish it. I am more anxious over this than 
you yourself are. He went there, was taken 
ill as a matter of fact, was really sent to the 
hospital, was attended there, but was helped 
to funds so to speak, this being a temptation 
to the attending. They got some of his cloth- 
ing after the so-called death of one of the 
patients (they) dressed the body in Dean's 
clothes, buried the body, and Dean being in 
state of delirium, they thinking there was 

[26] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

money in him, kept him for three days; then 
after taking his jewels, money, etc., watch, 
opals, various pieces of jewelry, they put him 
into a carriage and he has been ever since in 
the building under guard, and I do see and 
follow this (i.e., the clothes, the hand gesturing 
with the articles to indicate) to him, — follow 
this until I see him. I assure you he is still 
alive and in this building which I described to 
you before. 

Dodge: You mentioned it, but not in detail. 

G. P. writes: Oh no, I think not. But I did 
the hospital. Now speak to me and ask me 
any conceivable question on earth. Slowly — 
yes, certainly, I do. 

(Dr. Hodgson refers to Imxperator and other 
persons known to Imperator who may make a 
specialty of tracing names of places, etc., and 
asks if it wouldn't be wise to appeal for help 
to any such persons and try to get the precise 
location, city, building, etc., where Dean is.) 

G. P. writes: Yes, very good suggestion. I 
am sure and clear of his identity. Now, out- 
side of the city where I saw you go is a town 
adjoining the city in the country of Mexico. 
SCINTZ by name — there is a building .... 
is a gentleman . . city. 

(Many attempts at spelling a name like 
Cintz.) 

G. P. writes: In his (Dean's) last letter to 

[27] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

you he said something about not being well. 
. . . may just as well say he was stolen be- 
cause it amounts to the same thing. I know I 
am on the right track, H. Here comes Im- 
perator. Do you know what I am doing? I 
am looking at the name over this building. 
I am following a stream of so-called water 
into this town outside of the city of Mexico, 
to help locate this demented young man who 
is still being held a captive. 

Dr. Hodgson: It's not likely you'll see on 
the building the name of the town. 

G. P. writes: You mistake me. I mean the 
building and town. C. is right, Cinua . . 
Mareco . . . (Continued attempts at name.) 
I would ask someone to come with. I am de- 
termined to put you straight. . . . PUEBLO 

. . C Imperator . . . PUEBLO . . 

CINE is a French name or Latin. . . well, 
ad quom (?) usfa ...(?) homo . . . homo 
... ad quom . . . Latin, do you forget 
your Latin, Hodgson — ad . . ad (To, 
towards) quem (?) (Only ad and homo -deci- 
phered at sitting) . . a gentleman . . to 
. (gentleman's name Aquem?) Man . . 
homo. . PREBULO . . SOUTH, PUEBLO. 

Dr. Hodgson: South, what of? 

G. P. writes: Mexico. 

Dr. Hodgson: Southern Road? 

G. P.: Southern Road. There is no doubt 

[28] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

about this, not in the least. Tell me how you 
felt when you found it was not he. (To Dodge.) 

(Dodge told how the people swore it was 
Dean, etc., and how he found on opening the 
grave that it wasn't Dean's body; hair dark 
instead of light, teeth not Dean's according to 
dentist expert, etc.) 

G. P. : Well this is all a lie, the whole d 

thing, and you will j&nd it out so ere long, 
Dodge. 

Dodge: Is he now in Pueblo? 

G. P.: He is. 

Dodge: Southern Road.^^ 

G. P.: Yes, sir. . . . he is in the hands of 
Cene, Cintz. 

Dodge: Is he in a public or private building .? 

G. P.: There are only a few inmates there, 
and it is a rather rude affair, and they are 
keeping him for the reward and do not you 
give it but rely on your friend George Pelham, 
and he will help you clear up this terrible pack 
of lies and expose to light the villains. 

Dr. Hodgson: (Would it be well for you to 
go now and find out where he is if possible?) 

G. P. : Yes, I intend this, Hodgson, yet every 
moment I receive this influence it is a help to 
me. 

Dr. Hodgson: Take all the influence you can 
get. (Giving all the articles.) 

G. P.: Some of these articles were sent to 

[29] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

you and have been handled by other persons 
now (?) you had in the hospital. Hodgson, ask 
him (Dodge) what they meant by saying they 
were keeping flowers on his grave. 

Dodge: They got some money to keep flowers 
on his grave. 

G. P.: Well I think we know we can see the 
inside of a grave as well as they can. This is a 
great pity because it has so worn on you. But 
do not be discouraged and give me one more 
chance is all I wish. In Mexico the Southern 
Road is correct so far, and beyond this I can 
give you no light until I see you again. 

Dr. Hodgson: Dodge will come the next 
time with me. You get Home and Moses and 
anybody else that can help, and the Doctor, 
and try and locate him in a way that will 
enable us in this world to find him. The name 
of the town or village where he is, and the name 
of the building. 

G. P.: Good, Hodgson. Yes, all right. I 
will. Hodgson, I gave you my word that I 
would prove myself to you. I now give you 
my word that I will find Dean (Good) or at 
least I have found him, but I wish to lead you 
to find him also. But location of places is not 
easy, but I could never mistake as to whether a 
person was in or out of their body; because 
articles and patient search will help me to know 
whether a person is in their body or not, 

[301 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Now PUEBLO is the name of the place, but 
there are many things to give you yet. 
PUEBLO — I spelt it again and again — 
PUEBLO. Listen. Before the light was taken 
away from me I tried to write SOUTHERN 
ROAD. (He means before Mrs. Piper's opera- 
tion.) But I could only get to or as far as 
SOUTH. I tried and tried but it was no use. 
Your boy is still in that country. Any ques- 
tions.'^ 

Dr. Hodgson: We want to go and find him. 

G. P.: Exactly. 

Dr. Hodgson: If we send anybody can we 
find the place? 

G. P.: Yes, but I would rather give you a 
clearer explanation or description. 

Dr. Hodgson: You do not think now that 
he has passed out, do you.^^ 

G. P.: No. 

Dr. Hodgson : Thanks. Tell us exactly where 
he is. 

G. P.: You bet I will. Give me some . . 
a few things. I would not take the consul's 
word for a straw. 

Dr. Hodgson: Dodge says: "He lied to 
me." 

G. P.: Well, I know he did. Yes, sir. I 
have all I wish but his watch. I wish one 
thing more, (article. Disturbance) Excuse me. 
. . power. . . . good. . I'll go now. The 

[31] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

poor boy, he has had enough trouble. Do 
not fret. You shall return. 

Adieu. 

(Phinuit talks.) 

Comment by Dr. Hodgson: (Caj> of Dean 
had been given to Phinuit at beginning of 
sitting.) 

Phinuit: Influence of young man in the body. 
Little trouble in his head. He hasn't been very 
well physically, but he's getting clearer. They 
gave him some medicine, morphine, that kind 
of a thing. That fellow who's with him, he's 
got very dark skin. Don't you fear at all. All 
your troubles will be cleared. Give me some- 
thing (belt given.) (to Dodge.) What's that 
thing you keep writing on all the time.^^ Head 
man is a scoundrel, that has charge of the state 
or town. 

Dodge: What does he look like.^ 

Phinuit: Hair gray, white mustache — con- 
sul — 

Dodge: What color is the son's hair. ^^ (Mean- 
ing the Consul-General's son.) 

Phinuit: Sandy — parts here, (indicating 
correctly). 

Dodge: Curly or straight? 

Phinuit: A little like this (curly). Spots on 
his face. Building he's in now (i.e., Dean) 
Little arch way like . . . something together 
with cement like. 

[32] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Dodge: Mud? Made-stone? 

Phinuit: It's made not of mud, but not 
brick, but stone cemented together. Gate. 
Barbed iron stakes like, a little fancy like work 
at top. You can drive through the gate if you 
can get in. Very cranky people there. The 
building is on the right hand side, not a very 
large building. About 25 persons there. Little, 
short, dark man, large nose, with spectacles, 
keeper of entrance. Gate arch way. Steps. 
Word OFFICE on door. Dark narrow pas- 
sage . . then turn to left, — then on right 
side is cot and young man there. There's 
seven lights in the window. There's a little 
round window. There's a number on the door. 
It's 4. Right hand side as you go down the 
ward. Very thin, very pale. Looks as though 
he'd been very sick. 

***** * 

Some further explanation of this "sitting" 
of Mrs. Piper with Dr. Hodgson and Mr. 
Dodge is necessary. 

It should be borne in mind that Dr. Hodgson 
from his long experience with Mrs. Piper pre- 
sumably knew how to adapt himself to condi- 
tions, direct the questions and in fact aid the 
spirits in ways that he considered necessary 
under the circumstances. And perhaps it might 
make matters a little clearer if it were explained 
that Mrs. Piper's various "controls" crowded 

[S3] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

her at times while in the trance state. That is, 
she experienced some difficulty in continuing 
to use one particular " control " when the others 
were insistent to be heard. 

George Pelham was the first "control" 
to speak, or rather write, through Mrs. Piper 
on this occasion. The questions and explana- 
tions are by Dr. Hodgson and Mr. Dodge. 

When George Pelham took possession of 
Mrs. Piper's hand to write, Dr. Hodgson urged 
the "control" not to be so excited. The 
"control" first spoke to Mr. Dodge. 

"Imperator," "Home," "Heard," and 
"Moses" are also "controls" whose pecuhar 
abilities were known to Dr. Hodgson from 
former experiences with them. 

The reference to "Palmer" means that prior 
to his visit to Mexico, Dean Bridgman Conner 
had worked for the late A. M. Palmer, the 
theatrical manager, and had had some trouble 
with him. 

The city of Puebla is, of course, the city 
that was meant — not Pueblo — and it is 
about seventy-five miles southeast of the City 
of Mexico, and is connected by railroad with 
the latter city. 

The information which Phinuit gave was 
in elucidation of what George Pelham had 
given. 



[34 



CHAPTER VII 

The next "sitting" is even more lucid than 
the first in some respects and should be under- 
stood more readily. Phinuit opens this 
second "sitting" but quickly gives way to 
George Pelham. Then Phinuit concludes 
with a diagram which shows the route taken 
by Dean Bridgman Conner and his captors 
from the American hospital to the city of 
Puebla. 

Dr. Bray was the head physician in the 
American hospital at the time. 

The "control" Heard, it will be noticed, com- 
municates through George Pelham. 

This second "sitting" should be carefully 
read, as it contains a great deal that had to be 
cleared up in a satisfactory manner, and much 
that was confusing to the investigators. 

Sitting with Mrs. Piper, October 22, 1896 
Present: P. C. Dodge and Richard Hodgson. 
Phinuit: I've been in another country since 
I saw you, and George and a lot of fellows. 

G. P. writes: I have been to Mexico, Hodg- 
son, and taken Home, Heard, etc. and we went 
to PUEBLA on the Southern R.R. and I 

[35] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

asked Heard to speak the name for me dis- 
tinctly, which is Southern R.R. and Cintz is 
the name of the man in charge of the institu- 
tion in which Dean is being held. They call 
it after the name of the ARIBOZA, a small 
stream, . . also the insane hospital. He 
was at first taken with a fever. When on the 
road to recovery, Walch in the next room died, 
so to speak, .... a mistake, Welch died. 
They drugged Dean, took his clothing, put it 
on to Welch's body, buried him, took Dean 
by railroad to this place, and he has never 
recovered his right mind since, but he is alive 
still, and an inmate of Cintz's institution. 
There isn't the slightest ... all right old 
man (to "invisible") . . . yes. Room 4. 
. . ARIBOZA (That's the stream?) Yes, 
also the name over the door. 

Dr. Hodgson: What is the name of the vil- 
lage or city.f^ 

G. P.: PUEBLA John Heard . . 

all right (To "invisible.") one moment. Hodg- 
son. See here. They did not dare to kill him, 
so to speak, but they kept him for the money 
there was in him. They have always wished 
you would offer a reward for him, but do not 
do it. I will help you to find him and then you 
can do as you like about arresting the whole 
mob. John says get your "boy first" — (Dr. 
Hodgson reads this as "long fist," which is 

[36] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

probably interpreted as an independent re- 
mark at first, and hence what immediately 
follows) and smash him . . the boy FIRST. 
You will find all of Dean's Brid . . . B. R. 
. . . Connor . . . CORNOR . . . CONNOR 
. . Heard says CORR . . CONNOR . . is 
in this city^ in this building which I describe. 
Is insane in Room 4 ... is in this building 
which I describe — in Room 4. There is noth- 
ing else to be said at present only to implore 
you to send or go at once. 

Dr. Hodgson: Hold on a moment, George, 
while I turn the leaves. 

G. P.: I cannot wait, Hodgson. . . Well 
you see H. (Heard) is talking and I cannot 
get all words. 

Dr. Hodgson: Tell him to wait too. 

G. P.: Listen. Go at once or send another 
and get him out of this as soon as possible. 
Do not think that if he was in his right mind 
he would tarry there longj. They did not dare 
take him out of his body and take it for vivi- 
section, so they shut him up one night after 
dark. It is the most damnable piece of 
Brutality I have known in this world or yours. 
But there, it is as it is, and I cannot help it, as 
I can see, Hodgson, only to give you light and 
then let you act. Gloves, articles, etc., etc., 
(hand reaches out towards article). Yes, one 
and the same Dean Bridgeman Connor. 

[37] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

(Hand much excited. R. H. suggests calm- 
ness, etc.) 

G. P.: You are too nervous, Hodgson, I say 
it is one and the same. It is one and the same 
identical fellow . . . yes. Heard told me this 
but his beard is all grown and you would 
scarcely recognize him and — 

Dr. Hodgson: What color is his beard .^ 

G. P.: Like this (feeling beard of Richard 
Hodgson) only lighter. He is a prisoner and 
has been for over or nearly two years. I heard 
Heard say what has become of his . . . , 
speak a little slower John . . cigar-case I say 
I must see to H. Give it to H. Yes. Now go 
on. Ask me any questions. By Jove, Hodgson, 
old chap, I little thought I should be here be- 
fore you, hunting up lost strayed or stolen 
chaps. 

Dr. Hodgson: Neither did I. 

G. P.: Well, by Jove, when Phinuit came to 
me with this mixed up tale of woe and told me 
fragments about Mexico, I said, here old fel- 
low, come on, I am just the fellow to help you 
out. Come on, boys, ask your questions, I am 
ready. Slowly. 

Dr. Hodgson: Ought this gentleman to go 
down himself? 

G. P.: Yes. 

Dr. Hodgson: Will he have difficulty in 
getting access to the Institution? 

[38] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

G. P.: Yes, a little. 

Dr. Hodgson: How can he get in.^ 

G. P.: By not making himself known. 

Dr. Hodgson: What steps had he better 
take? 

G. P.: Go to the oflBce and make inquiries 
for Cintz. Then there will appear to your vision 
a young man short of stature, not large, dark 
hair, mustache, wearing glasses, and broken 
accent, dressed in brown mixture, something. 
Come over here, out of Heard's way, Hodgson. 
Come over here, Hodgson, (hand indicates 
change of position for Richard Hodgson who 
changes accordingly) leave those . . . thanks, 
H. . . . leave those (articles) near Heard. 
He (dark man described above) is crabbed and 
borders on insult. His manner is thoroughly 
important and commanding. Now after gain- 
ing his confidence, sir, you will be O. K. The 
matron of this institution is also small, dark, 
but of kindly manner, and is thoroughly inno- 
cent of any wrongdoing on the part of Cintz. 
Yet there are about twenty or thirty inmates 
altogether. Any questions? I cannot hold him 
(Heard) long. 

Dr. Hodgson: Who pays for his being kept 
there? 

G. P.: Oh there is . . several . . not 
paying, only as they work. 

Dr. Hodgson: They work? 

[39] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

G. P.: Yes, exactly. You will see this when 
you get there. 

Dr. Hodgson: Is he able to be up.^^ 

G. P.: Yes, up, and goes about in the build- 
ing, yet is not allowed to talk much. We have 
both been inside and can tell you of every 
inmate there. 

Dr. Hodgson: How can Dodge get the con- 
fidence of Cintz.? 

G. P. : By saying I am travelling through the 
country and would like to visit your institu- 
tion to make note in my diary for a recollection 
of my travels, etc., etc. This is the only way 
you can gain admittance as a visitor. 

(Dodge expresses his gratitude to G. P., etc.) 

G. P.: No thanks necessary. This is what 
we are here for, to help our suffering brothers, 
in your human bodies, etc., etc., again. 

Dr. Hodgson: How can he gain the confi- 
dence of this matron? 

G. P.: Very easily. I will explain. Speak as 
one in passing the time of night, day, etc. . . . 
I forget day, H . . . then speak of the 
Building, etc., then various Ward Rooms, etc. 
. . . inquire how many inmates, etc. . . . 
what is the general occupation of same, if any 
. . . . whether male or female etc., and at the 
time of each question show no sign of anxiety 
whatsoever, simply act in a natural manner. 
Then ask if you may be permitted as a visitor 

[40] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

(which by this time will have been understood) 
to see the various rooms etc., etc. Then you 
will have a chance to get your eyes on NUM- 
BER 4. Then you will be convinced. Now 
comes the "tug of War." Listen. Say not a 
word to him . . . and in a dazed kind of 
. . sounds like chair, Hodgson, is apparently 
trying to paint, . . . not painting exactly but 
something quite similar. (Hand moves round 
and round in a small circle, palm downward, 
a little above the table.) .... constantly 
doing this sort of thing with both his head 
and hands. There is one small object in this 
room like a table, bed, chair all. 

Dr. Hodgson: All in one? 

G. P. : No. I should say beside bed and chair. 
Now he will look up at you as you enter his 
room. 

Dodge: Will he know me? 

G. P.: He staggers forward in a half dazed 
condition and the most unearthly yell he will 
utter, then he crouches back into the corner of 
the room, so to speak, but I should say, den. 
Then all is well. Yes. Now you will see the 
place absolutely silent. Go out across the 
street. Go down about a quarter of a mile, 
inquire for the gentleman of the clergy, get 
him on our side, tell him you have been looking 
for a friend. He will go with you to see Cintz 
and you have accomplished all you wish, and 

[41] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

you can take Dean home with you. I assure 
you it is a debt which you owe to us to prove 
our help: and follow our instructions to the 
letter. There may be a slight hitch in Cintz 
name, but it is of little importance otherwise. 
I command you to follow us. Any questions? 
Your consul grant (Consul-general .f^) yes, knows 
that that body of Welch was not Dean's body. 

Dr. Hodgson: He knows it? 

G. P.: Yes and did. I never would have in- 
sisted upon your having this place opened, only 
I knew it would be the only proof that I could 
possibly give of my statement, because they are 
sharp characters, and it would be useless to 
try and fight against them because a dead man, 
so to speak, (Dodge tells) . . hear Heard 
roar ... so to speak, has no possible means 
of defence. Hear you me, US and Co? 

(Dodge asks about Minister Ransom, Ameri- 
can Minister at the Legation.) 

G. P.: He is a SNIC .... excuse, H. 

Dodge: Dr. Bray. Does he know? 

G. P.: Bray, of course he does. I told you 
so before. Do you not recall it? 

Dodge: Yes. I remember it. 

G. P.: He is a d scoundrel. 

Dodge: Did Bray or the Consul or Mrs. 
Netterburgh get the diamonds and opals? 

G. P.: Mrs. N. got them and there is no 
doubt about it. More, hurry up. 

[42] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Dr. Hodgson: Puebla? 

G. P.: Yes. 

Dr. Hodgson: Southern Road.'^ 

G. P.: Southern railroad. Yes, sir. 

Dr. Hodgson: When you told us Tuxedo be- 
fore, I suppose you mixed up the sounds of 
Tuxedo and Puebla. 

G. P.: Yes, how in thunder did you know 
that. I did not tell you because I did not know 
it myself till Heard told me. The light was so 
poor I could not hear distinctly .... Watch 
one minute . . . articles etc. . . . Heard 
says no mistaking the articles. I am sure. 
Heard smiles in his sleeves. He is confident of 
success. He says the Mexicans are all devils 
anyway. Haven't you found that out yet 
Dodge, old chap? 

Dodge: Yes, indeed I have. 

G. P.: Did you notice the cynical smile on 
the consul's face.^ 

Dodge: When he said he paid $60.?^ 

G. P.: Yes, also the casket of rough 
wood. 

Dodge: Was Walsh the name of the man 
who died.^ 

G. P.: Yes, he died, or passed out we say; 
you call it died. You see he was in the same 
company with Dean. 

Dodge: The same theatrical company .^^ 

G. P. : I do say he was — but see later — 

[43] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

and in the same ward in the upper right hand 
room where they said Dean was. 

Dodge: Where Minister Gray died? 

G. P.: Yes. 

Dodge: Dean was in the fever ward. 

G. P.: I told you so. I told you the room 
and all. 

Dodge: Was Walsh in the same theatrical 
company .f^ 

G. P.: Not quite sure about the theatrical 
company, but in the same company at the 
hospital. 

Dodge: I hope we shall be able to verify 
your statements. 

G. P.: Well, I want this of all things, and I 
would be willing almost to go back into my own 
body and have another fall if you will do this 
for your old friend George Pelham. Any ques- 
tions about Palmer, anything about — 

Dodge: I don't care about him now. I'm 
looking for Dean. Is Dean's grandmother there .^^ 

G. P.: Yes, the old lady whom I saw the 
other day. 

Dodge: Is she his father's mother or his 
mother's mother .^^ 

G. P.: Mother's. 

Dodge: Can you tell us her name? 

G. P.: I could ask if she were here. I tell 
you H. Let me see if I can bring her here a 
moment. 

[44] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Dr. Hodgson: Well, I'd sooner you'd tell 
me another time. I want to speak to Mr. D. a 
moment. 

G. P.: Oh, I see. Any other time do as well. 
Dodge .^ 

Dodge: Yes. 

G. P.: Thanks. Any more questions? Did 
you see his room Dodge .^ 

Dodge: In the hospital — yes. I went all 
through . . . Confused. 

G. P.: I should say it was. Strange you 
could not have seen through it before. Well 
Dodge, brace up once more, and keep a stiff 
upper lip and you shall have him yet. Here 
comes Phinuit. 

5j» ^ *t* •? V V 

(Phinuit talks.) 
Phinuit describes the route by which the 
young man was taken from the hospital to the 
building where he now is, illustrating by dia- 
gram. He started in the evening and arrived 
the next morning. 



^ 




phinuit' S DIAGRAM 


EC 
DC 






B 




C 





A, Hospital. B, Railroad station. C, Railroad junction. 
D, Railroad station. E, Hillside. F, Building where Dean is. 

[45] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

He suggests to Dodge not to go near the 
hospital, but to start from the next town to 
the hospital town. 

Dodge: Do you go through Tezcoco? 

Phinuit: Through there. 

Dodge: Matin? 

Phinuit: Beyond that. 

Dodge: Puebla state or town? 

Phinuit: Town too. Name of the city. You 
find Ariboza. 



[46] 



CHAPTER Vm 

Armed with this new "light" Mr. Dodge and 
Dr. Sparhawk started immediately for the city 
of Puebla, which they scom^ed for Dean Bridg- 
man Conner, invoking the aid of the Mexican 
authorities in the search. Prisons, gaols, asy- 
lums, hospitals and public and private institu- 
tions were searched. Puebla, which is the 
capital of the state of Puebla, is a city of about 
one hundred thousand inhabitants and one of 
the wealthiest cities in Mexico. No trace of 
Dean Bridgman Conner, however, could be 
f oujid in Puebla and Mr. Dodge so telegraphed 
Dr. Richard Hodgson. 

Then Dr. Hodgson held some remarkable 
"sittings" with Mrs. Piper, as the result of which 
Mr. Dodge and Dr. Sparhawk were ordered 
to visit the city of Orizaba about sixty miles 
east of Puebla, and were there directed in 
their movements by telegrams from Dr. 
Hodgson based on the information concerning 
the exact whereabouts of Dean Bridgman 
Conner obtained at these "sittings." Mrs. 
Piper's " controls " claimed they could see Dr. 
Sparhawk and Mr. Dodge each day and 
through Mrs. Piper communicated to Dr. 
Hodgson just what they saw; telling how near 

[47] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

or how far Dr. Sparhawk and Mr. Dodge were 
each day, or each particular moment, from 
the building in which Dean Bridgman Conner 
was confined, and giving exact instructions how 
to reach the building. Dr. Hodgson directed 
the search in Orizaba by telegraph, a distance of 
about four thousand miles. 

Was there ever anything just like this? 

Dr. Hodgson was naturally a little excited 
about this time, as well he might be, for here 
was his great medium displaying a new and 
more wonderful power than she had ever be- 
fore displayed — following through her "con- 
trols" the movements of two men who were 
four thousand miles away and directing their 
movements with the aid of that other mysterious 
agency, the telegraph. Surely Dr. Hodgson 
might well im^agine himself a modern Prospero 
with Ariels in abundance ready to do his bid- 
ding and bring him information from the re- 
motest corners of the world. The poetic dream 
of Shakespeare in "The Tempest" had been 
realized, and if Dean Bridgman Conner could 
now be found as the result of the information 
given by Mrs. Piper's "controls" it would be a 
new revelation to the world which would revolu- 
tionize nearly all that had gone before and that 
had been learned through science and specula- 
tion. His struggle of years to wrest from nature 
her greatest secret would be crowned with 

148] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

certain victory, based on clear and convincing 
evidence. 

He who had started out as a cold-blooded, 
scientific investigator of psychic phenomena; 
the man who had investigated and denounced 
the fakirs of India; the man who had been 
anchored to the rock of evolution on which 
Herbert Spencer stood, had in the course of 
time and largely because of his study of Mrs. 
Piper, become a believer in the occult and was 
confident that through Mrs. Piper he spoke 
freely with the discarnate spirits of his old 
friend George Pelham and others, who were 
now rendering such service as only spirits could 
possibly render. 

It was a crucial moment in the career of this 
persistent investigator, and a few extracts from 
"sittings" which he had at this time with Mrs. 
Piper will reveal a little of the mental excite- 
ment under which Dr. Hodgson labored. The 
conservatism of the scientist still found a place 
in his mind, however, for he had a witness 
present at each of these "sittings," probably to 
make sure that the communications were not 
figments of the imagination or the hallucina- 
tions of an overwrought mind. 

In the report of the first of these "sittings," 
dated November 18, 1896, the " control " John 
Heard explains that Puebla and Orizaba are 
so near together it is impossible to define them, 

[49] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

although in point of fact Orizaba is about 
sixty miles slightly north of east of Puebla. 

In this same " sitting " Dr. Hodgson asks the 
"control," George Pelham, to get some spirits 
to impress Dodge and direct him to where 
Dean Bridgman Conner is in Orizaba. 

G. P. answers: I assure you Hodgson, old 
boy, that not a stone will be left unturned by 
us on this side. 

Hodgson says: It would not only be help- 
ing Dodge to find Dean, but it would be a most 
important test. 

G. P. answers: I know all. I did not think 
at first that I should be able to throw any light 
on this subject in particular, yet I have been 
much stronger and better able to do so than I 
ever even hoped for. What are — 

Dr. Hodgson: You are progressing, and 
you're stronger in the light. 

G. P.: What is the man doing that is with 
him? 

Dr. H.: With Dodge.? 

G. P.: Yes. 

Dr. H.: He's a friend, a Dr. Sparhawk or 
some such name. He's with him to help. He 
knows Dean and will do some detective work. 

G. P.: Good. 

Dr. H.: Get some of your friends to take 
Dodge where Dean is. There seems to be 
nothing more but to influence him. 

[50] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

G. P. : No more. I wish there was. But no. 

At a "sitting" the next day when Miss W. 
was present with Dr. Hodgson the first "con- 
trol" to appear is Phinuit, to whom Dr. Hodg- 
son reads the following telegram received from 
Dodge at Orizaba about eleven o'clock the 
previous evening: 

"Prison examined. Hospital tomorrow. Ten 
Boston time. Telegraph sitting here. 

"Dodge." 

Phinuit throws no light on the matter nor 
does he make any comment on the telegram. 

G. P. then appears and says: Dean is in 
that building as sure as you live. 

Dr. H.: In what building.^ 

G. P.: Where I have just seen Dodge. Yes 
in the same building. 

Dr. H.: I'll wire him. 

G. P.: Dean is in the same building and 
Scintz also. 

On November 20 another "sitting" is held 
with Mrs. Piper. Dr. Hodgson and Mrs. J. T. 
C. are present. Phinuit appears and calls for 
some personal effects of Dodge. He then 
says: 

Dodge is going round and round Dean. 
He's near the building but not in it. Tell him 
to go slowly. Dean's in room 4. 

Then G. P. writes: I am here Hodgson and 
I have seen Dodge. He is now on the right 

[51] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

track and if you will give me something I will 
go to him immediately. 

Dr. H.: Are you sure he was in the same 
building as Dean yesterday .^^ 

G. P. : Not inside, but on the sill so to speak. 

Dr. H.: Very close to the building.^ 

G. P.: Yes. Exactly. 

Dr. H.: But certainly in the same town.^ 

G. P. : Exactly. Yes. I believe it thoroughly 
to be an asylum. 

Dr. H.: A private asylum? 

G. P.: Not exactly a private asylum, but 
.... a goodly number of patients there. 
The similarity to a prison is so great that it is 
almost impossible to discriminate ... I will 
return soon. 

Later G. P. writes: I am here Hodgson. I 
have seen Dean and Dodge both since I was 
here. I have Dodge in one building and his 
friend in another. He must wait the result of 
his friend's investigation. Go through this 
particular building. 

Dr. H.: Where Dodge's friend is? 

G. P.: Yes, and is now. There sits poor 
little Dean. I have seen Dodge and his friend, 
and his friend goes for him into this building 
there. Keep right on and go through this 
building only . . . only, yes — 

Dr. H.: He's in that building? 

G. P.: Yes. O. K. Same town also. 

[52] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Dr. H.: I'll wire him today. 

G. P.: Good. 

Dr. H.: You're sure lie's in that building 
today .f^ 

G. P.: Yes. I do say I have seen him. 

Dr. H.: Was he in the building yester- 
day.? 

G. P.: No, but he was near it. Near it but 
not in it. 

Dr. H.: I wired him yesterday that he was 
in it. 

G. P.: But I fear this was my mistake. 

Dr. H.: Near only.? 

G. P. : Yes, but not exactly in it. He Dean 
was in the building but not Dodge. O. K. No 
more. 

At the next "sitting" the following day, No- 
vember 21, Mrs. Louise Chandler Moulton 
was present with Dr. Hodgson. Phinuit is the 
first " control " to appear and he asks for articles 
of Dean and Dodge and says that Dodge has 
not been in the right building yet. Dean, he 
says, is in the building close to the hill, which 
looks like an insane asylum. Then G. P. writes: 
I wish I could give Dodge a much stronger 
impression. He is on the right track now, and I 
am sure he will find out all he wishes. ... I 
am here Hodgson and I have told Dodge where 
to go. No morCc We have done our best. 

On November 23, G. P. writes: Awfully 

[53] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

glad to see you old fellow. Why in the world 
does Dodge go fooling around when we have 
given him such definite directions? 

Dr. H.: Isn't he in Orizaba? 

G. P. : Yes, but I wish him to go immediately 
into the building as described. 

Dr. H.: Not definitely. 

G. P.: It is there directly opposite to the 
one where we saw him go in. 

Dr. H.: Dodge has not been in the building? 

G. P.: No. Cintz (?) No . . . the hos- 
pital at once. Dean is surely there Hodgson. 

Dr. H.: Is the building diagonally across 
from the hospital? 

G. P.: Yes. O. K 

Dr. H. : Are Heard and the others trying to 
impress Dodge? 

G. P.: Yes, and have been for days . . . 
yes they have. All the power in Heaven is 
working . . . yes, in a moment (to invisible) 
speak to me Hodgson — 

Dr. H.: All the powers in Heaven — 

G. P.: Are working for him. 

At the end of the "sitting" G. P. writes: 

Now about Dean. He is still there, and I 
am sure Dodge has been trying to get admis- 
sion, but up to today has not been successful, 
yet I do — 

Dr. H.: He's got his eye on the building? 

G. P.: Here comes John Heard. 

[54] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Heard writes: Listen a moment Hodgson. 
He is there sm-e enough and I think Dodge will 
get in. Stick to it Dodge and do not let them 
fool you. He is there. 

Dr. H.: Shall I wire that.? 

Heard: Yes, yes. Stick to it Hodgson. Yes, 
he is there. Yes, do not let them fool you. 

Dr. H.: I will wire: "Stick to it. He is 
there. Do not be fooled." 

Heard: Yes. O. K. Stick to it. Do not be 
fooled. He is there. 

Dr. H.: All right. I'll wire that. 

Heard: Yes, at once. I am off Hodgson. I 
will bang him on the head — Dodge, I mean. 
O. K. 

There were other "sittings" with Mrs. Piper 
and more telegrams from Dr. Hodgson, and 
much excitement all around. Mr. Dodge and 
Dr. Sparhawk examined all the public and 
private buildings in Orizaba in which it was 
thought that Dean Bridgman Conner might 
be incarcerated, but all to no purpose. 

They did not get the slightest clue to the 
young man's whereabouts and so Dr. Sparhawk 
started for home, leaving Mr. Dodge to pursue 
his investigations a little farther. 

It was a great disappointment to Dr. Hodg- 
son, but he never lost faith in Mrs. Piper or 
her "controls," although it is possible that he 
lost some faith in the detective ability of the 

[55] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

searchers, although their deep interest in finding 
Dean Bridgman Conner could not be disputed. 

After Dr. Sparhawk's arrival in Boston he 
met Dr. Hodgson and both went out to see 
Mrs. Piper. Then occurred another wonderful 
"sitting." Mrs. Piper immediately transferred 
the scene of operations from Orizaba back to 
the city of Puebla. She described a point on 
the hill of Guadalupe, outside and to the north 
of Puebla, from which the hill and building in 
which Dean Bridgman Conner was confined 
could be seen by looking across and beyond the 
city toward a range of snow-capped mountains. 
It was a vivid and accurate description of the 
place. 

Mr. Dodge came back soon after and in the 
course of some "sittings" with Mrs. Piper she 
reiterated her description of the scene and place 
near Puebla where Dean Bridgman Conner 
was held in captivity. 



[56] 



CHAPTER IX 

My own connection with this strange case 
began while Mr. Dodge was in Mexico the 
second time. 

In my newspaper experience I had met with 
some Httle success in finding people who had 
"mysteriously disappeared," which was prob- 
ably the reason why A. A. Fowle, managing 
editor of the Boston Globe, called me into his 
room one afternoon in November, 1896, and 
explained what he knew of this case, asking my 
opinion of it. As Mr. Dodge had been, and was 
then, the Burlington, Vt., correspondent of 
the Glohe, Mr. Fowle naturally knew consider- 
able about his trips to Mexico. Mr. Dodge had, 
in fact, explained the strange hunt for Dean 
Bridgman Conner in some detail to Mr. Fowle, 
but for obvious reasons nothing appeared in 
the newspapers relative to the matter except 
a few short, scattering telegrams, somewhat 
vague, f^om Mexican correspondents who had 
heard something of Mr. Dodge's quest in that 
country. 

At first the whole thing was so new and 
strange to me that I scarcely knew what to 
think of it. The idea of being guided in a 
search for a missing man by a medium struck 

[57] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

me as rather novel, if not ludicrous. Yet after 
looking into the matter further, I became more 
and more interested in it, especially when I 
learned more about Mrs. Piper and her stand- 
ing with eminent scientific investigators of 
psychic phenomena. 

Naturally I was not insensible to the value 
of such a story as a sensation. What a story it 
would make if that young man could be found 
under the clairvoyant guidance of Mrs. Piper 
and rescued from his enforced captivity! It 
was certainly worth a try and I made up my 
mind to undertake it. 

In one instance, at least, I had successfully 
worked out, after the detectives had given the 
matter up, the case of a woman who had 
mysteriously disappeared from Boston and who 
was supposed to be dead. That case did not 
look nearly as promising at the start as did this 
case of Dean Bridgman Conner, for in the 
former case I was left wholly to my own re- 
sources, and in this case all I had apparently 
to do was follow out the instructions of a cele- 
brated and reliable medium. There was some- 
thing both weird and alluring in the "job." 
It would mark the beginning of a new era in 
newspaper and detective work — if successful. 

Plainly the first thing to do was find out 
something clear and definite about this won- 
derful Mrs. Piper. I had my curiosity aroused 

[58] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

about her a few years previously while reading 
Paul Bourget's "Outre Mer," in which he 
described a visit to a celebrated medium in 
one of the suburbs of Boston. The remarkable 
powers of this medium very much astonished 
the French writer and psychologist at the time. 
He did not mention the name of the medium 
but I immediately came to the conclusion that 
this Mrs. Piper was probably the woman, and 
I subsequently found that she was. Mrs. Piper 
herself told me about the visit of the French- 
man with Prof. William James to her home. 

The first definite move I made in the matter, 
however, was to visit the rooms of the American 
Branch of the Society for Psychical Research 
to have a chat, if possible, with the famous 
secretary of the society. Dr. Richard Hodgson. 
It was easy enough to visit the rooms of the 
society on Boylston Place, but it was another 
matter to get at Dr. Richard Hodgson. He 
seemed to be too busy to see me or to grant 
an interview. I purchased some of the reports 
of the society and took them home and read 
over in these reports the wonderful accounts 
of Mrs. Piper and the phenomena incident to 
her trance state. My wonder at this remark- 
able woman increased when I found that she 
had been the subject of investigation for years 
by some of the most eminent psychologists in 
the world, and that a good part of the litera- 

[59] 



The Quest fok Dean Bridgman Conner 

ture of the Society for Psychical Research was 
devoted to her either in the form of specific 
reports or as speculations on the phenomena 
presented while she was in the trance state. 
The Psychical Research Society seemed to 
have been revolving in a very large measure 
around this woman. I also found that she was 
consulted on all sorts of matters by eminent 
men and women from all over the country. 

Here truly was a phenomenon worth seeing. 
So I called on Mrs. Piper one winter evening 
at her home on Arlington Heights. I found her 
a comely, well-built and healthy looking woman 
of middle age, above the medium height, with 
brownish hair and a rather good-natured and 
matronly cast of countenance. She looked like 
a well-to-do woman without any particularly 
marked characteristics, either intellectual or 
otherwise. I had rather expected to find a 
different type of woman, somebody that would 
show more evidence of nerves. This woman 
looked as calm and phlegmatic as a German 
Hausfrau. She evidently never had bothered 
herself with metaphysical or any other kind of 
questions of a vague or abstract character. 
Somehow she reminded me of a nurse I had seen 
in a hospital at one time — a calm, self-possessed 
woman. 

I asked her how she had discovered her 
strange powers as a medium, and she told me 

[60] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

that it was while visiting a medium some ten, 
or it may be twelve, years previously. Dur- 
ing that "sitting," she said, she went into a 
trance herself. 

I have seen a report since which states that 
her first trance experience was while she was 
ill after the birth of her eldest daughter, when 
she was sitting in her father-in-law's house at 
a window late one afternoon. There she had a 
vision in which she appeared to walk through 
an atmosphere of silvery, feathery clouds. The 
next afternoon while sitting in the same place 
she lost consciousness again and began to talk, 
not in her natural voice, but in the voice of a 
strange person, one who was dead. Her father- 
in-law reported this to Prof. William James of 
Harvard University, who called on Mrs. Piper 
and took an immediate interest in the phe- 
nomena. The trances would come on each day, 
whenever she would concentrate her mind for 
the purpose. 

I am very positive she told me her first 
trance experiences, or rather experience, was 
in the room of a medium, as above stated. 
However that may be, soon after she discovered 
she had this strange power it appears that 
Prof. William James became interested in 
her. 

I asked her if she remembered anything that 
transpired while she was in the trance state. 

[ 61 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

No, she did not, although she had made efforts 
to remember something of what transpired 
while coming out of the trance state, but it 
was all vague and unsatisfactory. 

Mrs. Piper was very modest about her own 
extraordinary powers and could offer no ex- 
planation of the phenomena. When asked 
about the Dean Bridgman Conner case she 
professed ignorance of the matter, as Dr. 
Hodgson, she said, did not always let her 
know who the " sitters " were nor what she said 
or did at the "sittings." But after a while she 
seemed to think that she had heard some- 
thing about the case. I felt at the time that 
she manifested an ingenuous assumption of 
ignorance about some things with which it 
seemed to me she should be somewhat familiar. 

I found that Dr. Hodgson when he first be- 
came acquainted with Mrs. Piper was a strong 
disbeliever in her powers. He had detectives 
put on her track to watch her movements. It 
wasn't long, however, before he became her 
staunchest champion and made an arrangement 
with her by which she became a sort of official 
medium for the society, and it was difficult to 
see the woman without a card from him. 

She told me that sometimes when walking 
along the street she felt the trance coming over 
her, and at such times it took all of her will 
power to control herself, and that usually she 

[62] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

had to stand still and hold on to something 
while she diverted her mind. 

There was nothing about this woman, when 
in her normal state at least, that I could see, 
to arouse even curiosity; nothing mysterious 
or peculiar in her personal appearance, and 
nothing unusual in her intellectual resources 
as far as I could judge from a casual but 
somewhat definite conversation. She told me 
that since her illness some months previously, 
during which an operation of some sort had 
been performed on her, she had apparently 
become a much better medium. 

I spoke to her about some of Dr. Phinuit's 
peculiarities and she laughed, remarking that 
he was a little peculiar at times. This was in 
response to the suggestion that the French 
doctor had the reputation of not always telling 
the truth. She told me somewhat of her family 
affairs, which were at the time apparently con- 
genial, and she pointed to some oil paintings of 
flowers on the wall of the little parlor which 
she seemed to be very much interested in, but 
which were, as specimens of painting, rather 
mediocre. 

The room in which she gave the trance 
"sittings" was upstairs, and had been, she said, 
especially laid out for her work under the 
supervision of Dr. Hodgson with regard to 
light, etc. I did not see the room. 

[63] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Some weeks later I called again at the same 
house in company with Mr. Dodge for a 
"sitting." When I arrived at the house Mrs. 
Piper was in the trance state upstairs. I could 
hear her moaning at the time, as if she were in 
agony. Dr. Hodgson was with her. Mr. Dodge 
went upstairs to prepare the way for me and 
left me sitting alone in the same little parlor. 
In a few minutes he returned somewhat excited 
and said to me: 

" The ' controls ' want you to leave the house 
and get as far from it as possible. They say 
you are a disturbing element and they can do 
nothing while you are here." 

If I was a disturbing element I must have 
been an unconscious one, for I was just as 
anxious and sincere in my desire to have a 
"sitting" with Mrs. Piper as anybody could 
be, and I may say that, in so far as I know, I 
was in thorough harmony with the idea of Mrs. 
Piper's psychic powers. For why should I 
presume to criticize this woman where so many 
had passed that stage and had accepted her? 
It had been determined that I was to go 
to Mexico, and I was anxious to get all the 
light I could on the Dean Bridgman Conner 
case. 

But I was obliged to leave or there would 
have been no business done with the spirits 
that day. So I boarded an electric car and rode 

[64] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

back to Boston, eight miles away, and I pre- 
sume the spirits were satisfied. 

In the meantime I kept up my reading in 
the reports of the Society for Psychical Research, 
and became an associate member of that body. 
My faith in Mrs. Piper increased daily. 

When Mr. Dodge arrived in Boston from 
Mexico he called on Mr. Fowle, the managing 
editor, and was introduced to me. He told 
me what he had done in Mexico, showed me 
pictures of Dean Bridgman Conner and of 
the American hospital, explained his suspicions, 
showed me the stenographic reports of the 
"sittings" with Mrs. Piper which have been 
incorporated in preceding chapters, and seemed 
pleased to think I was to go to Mexico to find 
and rescue his friend Dean Bridgman Conner. 
This was some days prior to my last visit to 
Mrs. Piper's house. 

Mr. Dodge, .in addition to giving me all the 
information he possessed, had several "sittings" 
with Mrs. Piper, during which she reiterated, 
as has been said, the statement that Dean 
Bridgman Conner was surely in the vicinity 
of Puebla. He gave me a description of the 
locality, made up from Mrs. Piper's writing 
— a description that seemed so definite and 
clear it left very little for me to do except 
go down to Puebla, locate the building in 

[65] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

which the young man was confined ard have 
him released. 

To this end I secured the letter which begins 
this story from the then Secretary of State, 
Richard Olney. 

A strange thing happened at this point, how- 
ever. I had not been able to secure an inter- 
view with Dr. Richard Hodgson. He was always 
too busy, but he finally found time to write a 
brief note to the managing editor in which he 
stated that his "communicators" did not wish 
me to go to Mexico. They didn't want any 
newspaper men to mix up in the case. He 
either did not know or had forgotten that Mr. 
Dodge was a newspaper man. 

This was sad, but it was too late. All ar- 
rangements had been perfected for my going, 
and I had the stenographic reports and the 
description of the place in which Dean Bridg- 
man Conner was said to be confined outside 
the city of Puebla. That was all I required. 
If he was there I would get him — if the medium 
or her " controls " were correct. 

Then again it would be nothing more than 
a simple act of charity for somebody to go 
immediately to Mexico, locate the young man, 
have him released from his enforced captivity, 
and restore him to his sorrowing parents and 
friends. Mr. Dodge could not go again and 
there was no apparently good reason why a 

[66] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

newspaper man could not do the work as well as 
somebody else. If the medimn were correct, the 
job of finding the young man would be an 
easy one from a newspaper man's point of 
view, even though it was in a foreign country. 
Newspaper men do not usually get such 
"straight tips" on their assignments. 

So a few days after the receipt of Mr. Olney's 
letter, for which I had been waiting, I started 
for the City of Mexico, and so confident was I 
that my trip would be a short one, and a suc- 
cessful one, I took but little baggage. Mr. 
Dodge urged me to take his revolver, but this 
I left behind, although several times afterward 
I wished I had taken it, for I had occasion to 
go into a much wilder part of the country than 
any he had visited, where I found it would have 
been a very good precautionary measure at 
least to carry some sort of weapon for self- 
defense. 



[67 



CHAPTER X 

In telling this story of my own experiences 
during my investigation in Mexico it will be 
necessary to touch on many things that may 
seem irrelevant but which in the last analysis 
will be found to have considerable bearing on 
all that I did, for somehow when one's mind is 
directed as mine was to a given purpose, and 
nothing else occupies the mind, all things and 
persons seem to contribute something to the 
work and to the results. Somehow the mind 
becomes selective under such circumstances, 
and it was almost startlingly curious how acci- 
dental things, and persons met in a most casual 
or accidental way, all seemed to contribute 
something to the work in hand. Then again, 
the variety of knowledge gained and the im- 
pressions formed as the work progressed all 
seemed to tend to a clearer understanding of 
the problem itself. 

And it might be as well to remark here that 
I have found in my newspaper experience 
whenever I had a particularly hard problem to 
solve — one that required complete mental 
concentration — that the mind became un- 
consciously selective, so much so that, as Mere- 
dith Nicholson once remarked to me about 

[68] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

similar experiences he had had in his own 
newspaper work — it seemed Hke a sixth sense. 

It must be borne in mind that all these in- 
vestigations in Mexico were made when Presi- 
dent Porfirio Diaz was in power and the entire 
country had enjoyed an unusual period of tran- 
quillity. Only in remote places, or places dis- 
tant from organized authority, were there any 
particular dangers to be encountered by the 
traveller. 

I left Boston early in January, 1897, and I 
went by rail all the way to the City of Mexico. 
The train was chased by a severe snowstorm 
as far south as Atlanta, and even New Orleans 
was in the grip of the "Ice King" to such an 
extent that relief measures were being taken 
in the interests of the negroes and the poorer 
classes who were unprepared for such an un- 
welcome visitor. To a person from the North 
the measures seemed a little peculiar, but it 
was serious business to these people. After a 
day spent in New Orleans the train was taken 
for Eagle Pass, Texas, on the Rio Grande. 
The air was salubrious in Texas, the prairies 
were green, the trees were in bloom, and 
glimpses were had occasionally of the blue 
Gulf of Mexico. 

These long "runs" by rail are not unlike a 
sea voyage in one respect: they seem to bring 
together total strangers in a sort of temporary 

[69] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

companionship which very often results in a 
friendship more lasting. 

Travelling in the same Pullman with me were 
a number of people of widely divergent inter- 
ests and characteristics. There were two broth- 
ers who were each over six feet tall and who 
were large in proportion, farmers from north- 
ern New York, with their wives and a daughter 
who was a school teacher. They were on their 
way to southern California to see a relative. 
One of these brothers was the most inquisitive 
mortal I ever met. He plumped all sorts of 
questions at you in a most direct and embar- 
rassing manner — who you were, where you 
came from, where you were going, whether 
married or single, what business you were in, 
what you intended doing in the place you were 
going to, etc., etc. But I never saw such ten- 
derness toward women as he manifested toward 
his wife and daughter. His curiosity was such 
a natural thing that it only provoked smiles. 
The other brother was a great, happy, easy- 
going man who seemed to be inclined to take 
things as they came. He would smoke a cigar, 
tell a story, and laugh heartily at his own and 
everybody else's jokes. The daughter was a 
bright, intelligent young woman, whose prin- 
cipal regret seemed to be that she did not 
bring her "wheel" along with her. Before we 
parted at Spofford, Texas, I had a very pressing 

[70] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

invitation to visit a village in northern New 
York, which I regret to say I have not done. 

There was also on the car a little red-faced 
and red-haired man who had seen a great deal 
of the world and who had had many thrilling 
experiences in foreign lands. He was an agent 
for a locomotive firm in Pennsylvania and was 
on his way to Mexico to "clinch" a contract. 
He had been in Russia, where he sold engines 
to the government, and he had travelled over 
much of that vast empire. He had also been in 
China and Japan and in several South American 
countries. At one time he was about to be 
hanged in Brazil because of an accident to one 
of his engines which resulted in the death of 
several natives. Had it not been for the per- 
sistent efforts of the British consul in his be- 
half at the time he said there was no doubt 
but he would have been hanged. That was 
before the Spanish War, when the United States 
was rated rather low in South America. He 
was full of good stories. 

Then there was a big, stout man from New 
Orleans who was selling sugar machinery. He 
knew every sugar plantation in Louisiana, 
Texas, Mexico and the West Indies. He, too, 
had had some thrilling experiences. Judging 
from his conversation, he could sell anything. 
He had a splendid opinion of his own abilities. 
Time and again he showed us a picture of 

[71] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

"the dearest little woman on earth" — his 
wife — which he had pasted on the inside of 
his gold watch. He said she was the star to 
which his wandering compass "ever pointed 
true." 

This brings me to one man on the train 
whose acquaintance proved to be of much 
value in my subsequent investigations into the 
case of Dean Bridgman Conner. He was a tall 
man, reserved and quiet, with keen, brown 
eyes and a bare suspicion of a smile whenever a 
good story was told in the smoking compart- 
ment. He said very little for several days and 
even the inquisitive farmer was balked in his at- 
tempts to find out anything about the man 
whose dignity and reserve rather overawed the 
inquisitor. 

After we had crossed the Rio Grande and 
were driving along toward Torreon I asked this 
quiet man some questions about the country, 
which, in fact, at that point was nothing more 
than a yellow clay desert dotted with scrub 
mesquite — a hardy bush that grows in this 
part of Mexico. He knew Mexico thoroughly 
and gave me all the information I desired. He 
knew that I came from Boston and he asked 
some questions about that city. Finally he 
said he was going to ask me a foolish question. 
He said: 

"I've got a first cousin in Boston whom I've 

[72] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

never seen. I was brought up in the West and 
he has always lived in the East. I wonder if 
you ever heard of him. His name is Robert 
P. Boss and he works on a newspaper, I under- 
stand. I think the name of it is the Boston 
Globed 

Nobody on that train knew that I worked on 
the Boston Globe. I had carefully avoided all 
reference to that fact. Indeed, to all intents 
and purposes, I was merely a tourist for the 
time being. 

I had known Robert P. Boss for many 
years. He was the superintendent of the Globe 
composing room and his first cousin in Mexico 
was both astonished and pleased when I so 
informed him. My companion I afterwards 
learned was a mine owner in Mexico, with 
business offices in the City of Mexico and in 
San Francisco. He resided most of his time in 
the City of Mexico. His name was Thomas 
Boss. Naturally we became more intimate 
after this and I found him a very agreeable 
and well-informed man. 

He was going to stop over at Zacatecas for 
a few days to examine a gold mine he had 
recently purchased. Zacatecas was then the 
mining center of Mexico. Its silver mines 
especially have been famous for hundreds of 
years. Out of these rich mines came much of 
the wealth which gave Spain her early prestige 

[73] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

in the world. It is high up on the plateau, some 
eight thousand feet, in a mountainous district. 

It was rather cold the night we approached 
the city of Zacatecas where we were due at one 
o'clock in the morning. I sat up with Mr. 
Boss to see him off the train. After the other 
passengers had retired and the two of us were 
alone in the smoking compartment I frankly 
told him what my mission was in Mexico and 
asked his opinion of the entire matter. I felt 
that this man who had travelled for years all 
over Mexico and who knew the country and 
the people so well could give me some sane 
advice. He was the first person to whom I had 
mentioned the matter since I left Boston. 

After I had told him the story in all its de- 
tails and explained what I knew of Mrs. Piper, 
he sat for some little time apparently in deep 
thought. Then he said: 

"When I was a young man in Virginia City, 
Nevada, in the mining business, I visited a 
seance hall there one Sunday afternoon. I 
had arrived in the city the previous evening 
and I only knew a couple of men in the whole 
place. I was wandering about the streets 
rather aimlessly when I happened to see a 
sign at the door of this hall advertising the 
seance. I went in and took a seat in the rear of 
the little hall. There was a woman on the 
platform, the medium, and soon after I entered 

[741 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

she pointed at me and said that she saw the 
figure of a man hovering over my head and she 
gave a perfect description of my father. I was 
astonished. I couldn't understand it, for I 
was certain that that woman never saw me 
before and she certainly could not have known 
who my father was, as he was dead. 

"Well, I pondered over that for a long time. 
It bothered me. Some time after that I was in 
Los Angeles, California, and I attended a 
seance there. These seances were common 
through the West, especially in the mining 
country in those days. W^ell, sir, what was my 
astonishment when this medium pointed at 
me almost as soon as I had taken my seat and 
she also described, very accurately, my father. 
I could not account for it and I thought over 
the matter a great deal, until finally it dawned 
on me that both of these women had described 
my father as I had known him, and not as he 
appeared when he died. I had not seen my 
father for about ten years prior to his death, 
and during that time I learned that he had 
changed a great deal in his whole appearance, 
owing to a very severe illness. From what I 
learned later he had changed so much that I 
would not have known him. Now those women 
in some way, while in the trance state, saw the 
picture of my father which I had in my mind. 
They were clever mind readers and that is 

[75] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 
about as far, I think, as any of these people can 

I told him of the eminent men who had in- 
vestigated the Piper phenomena but he could 
not be shaken in his belief. He said: 

"You'll find if you pursue the matter far 
enough, there's mind reading in it somewhere. 

"Now," he continued in a very serious tone, 
"I'm a trustee of the American hospital in the 
City of Mexico. We Americans are rather proud 
of that hospital. We have put a good deal of 
money into it. It is supported by the English- 
speaking residents of the City of Mexico and 
we think it is as fine a hospital as there is in 
the country. If there is anything wrong in the 
conduct of the hospital we want to know it as 
much as anybody. I will help you in any way 
that I can in your investigations of the hospital, 
but I think you will find that somebody is 
making a great mistake. However, don't let 
my opinion interfere with your work. I should 
like to know the exact truth of the matter. It 
seems to me I once before heard something of 
this case, but at the time I guess I did not 
regard it very seriously." 

Soon after this conversation I parted with 
Mr. Boss at Zacatecas and retired for the 
night, but I did not go to sleep immediately. 
What he had said bothered me. It was a 
"new point of view." But he had brought the 

[76] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

American hospital in the City of Mexico out 
of the clouds of my imagination and made it 
something real and serious. However, I could 
not see where the mind reading came in. My 
enthusiasm over Mrs. Piper was too great to 
put her on a plane with ordinary mining-camp 
mediums. I finally came to the conclusion that 
if Mr. Boss knew more about Mrs. Piper he 
would not be so strong in his opinions about 
mind reading. So, having thus settled the 
matter temporarily in my own mind, I went to 
sleep. 



[77] 



CHAPTER XI 

As the train pushed farther south the air 
grew balmier on the great Mexican plateau. 
In less than a week I had been whirled from the 
dull, snow-clad and leafless North into a land of 
perpetual sunshine, with scarcely a single cloud 
to be seen anywhere in the blue sky. It was 
only a few days from the land of the long over- 
coat, heavy shoes and thick gloves to this 
wonderful country where many of the brown- 
skinned children were almost nude as they 
crowded the little stations and asked for 
"centavos." The nights were pleasantly cool 
and as the City of Mexico was approached the 
adobe towns became thicker, also the natives 
at the stations, and the land became more and 
more fertile until it looked like a vast green 
garden with an abundance of flowers and 
fruits, among which were delicious oranges, 
bananas and sweet lemons. 

It must be a land of opals, too, for at every 
station the natives seemed to have them in 
abundance to sell. Dean Bridgman Conner 
had a weakness for these stones and I rather 
admired his taste for I know of no stone so rich 
in color and light possibilities as the opal. I 
developed a weakness for them myself. 

[78] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

The pure natives are rather picturesque and 
somehow my first and last impression of them 
was based on a "typical" picture of a Malay I 
had seen in my school geography. I fancy, 
however, that my ethnological discovery, based 
on this picture, is probably not worth much 
from a scientific standpoint. But they were 
very picturesque, these men with the big som- 
breros and zerapes and the women with the 
varicolored shawls over their heads, and the 
children who were dressed — well, some with 
little and some with a little more clothes. 

The pervasive Chinamen were in evidence 
at many of the railroad stations, where they 
ran the restaiu*ants, and served very good food, 
by the way. At these stations were also to be 
seen one or more of the famous "Rurales" at 
"present arms," whenever the train stopped. 
This was the crack cavalry regiment of Mexico. 
Most of its members were said to have been at 
one time bandits, but President Diaz induced 
them to enter the army. They are wonderful 
horsemen, but how they ever got into those 
skin-tight trousers was a mystery to me. 

Higher and higher the train ascended the 
plateau until a point was reached where some 
of the passengers began to bleed at the nose. 
The descent was more or less gradual from this 
point until the City of Mexico was reached at 
an elevation of 7434 feet. The longest part of 

[79] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

the railroad ride was ended, and I decided to 
spend a couple of days in the City of Mexico 
before resuming my journey to Puebla. I did 
this to accustom myself to the peculiarities of 
the country, to the positive light, the strange 
sights and sounds, and the characteristics of 
the people. So I went to the Hotel Iturbide 
with a young man from Columbus, Ohio, with 
whom I had become acquainted on the train. 
He knew the city pretty thoroughly, having 
been there on business several times previously. 

I did not care particularly to know any- 
thing about the city. I just wanted to walk 
here and there and familiarize myself with the 
general aspect of things — immerse myself in 
the life around me. At the time I did not sup- 
pose I would have occasion to get any further 
acquainted with the City of Mexico. I had a 
definite object in view and it was my desire to 
accomplish this object and get out of the coun- 
try as quickly as possible. My work was in 
and around the city of Puebla. That was the 
city I was most deeply concerned about and 
I did not care to waste any energy in storing 
away facts about the City of Mexico. So I 
strolled around for a couple of days in the 
city, wherever my fancy led me. 

There is always a certain confusion of the 
senses when a traveller enters a foreign city — 
or even a large city in one's own country for 

[80] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

the first time. This confusion was more pro- 
nounced the first day I spent in the City of 
Mexico than I had ever noticed it before in my 
travels. Everything seemed new and strange. 
The clear blue sky, the intense sunlight in the 
middle of the day, the architecture, the cos- 
tumes and the street sounds. However, the 
feeling, as I had anticipated, wore off inside of 
forty-eight hours and I became pretty thor- 
oughly adjusted to my environment and felt 
"more at home," as it were — that is, to exter- 
nal conditions. 

There were plenty of Americans on the main 
thoroughfares of the city, as there were English- 
men, Frenchmen and Germans; in fact, there 
were fairly large colonies of these different 
nationalities in the city. The difference in size 
between the people of these nationalities and 
the natives is most striking. The natives are, 
as a rule, short in stature, and the men are 
not blessed with too much adipose tissue, as a 
general thing. Nearly all of the Americans I 
met were big, tall men, most of them from the 
western and southern states. 

I did not care to look up the American 
hospital during these two days, nor did I visit 
either the American Legation or the American 
Consulate. I spent both of the evenings on the 
Plaza Mayer listening to the wonderful mili- 
tary band and watching the crowds of people 

[81] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

that stood or walked leisurely around while 
they listened to the splendid music. Mexicans 
have a fine musical taste and they like to hear 
the best music there is. This band played se- 
lections from nearly all the great operas. 

After thus resting myself for two days and 
two nights, I took the train on a Sunday morn- 
ing and started for the city of Puebla to begin 
my search for Dean Bridgman Conner. 



[82] 



CHAPTER XII 

It was a delightful trip by rail from the City 
of Mexico to the city of Puebla. The sky 
was clear and in the early forenoon the sun 
seemed to shine through a golden haze. The 
foliage was tinted with the freshest of greens 
and the distant mountains faded away in 
a delicate cobalt. A Sabbath quiet seemed to 
pervade all things — a quiet which was only 
broken, when the train stopped at the little 
stations, by the deep tones of the church bells. 
If the ringing of church bells is any indication 
of religious sentiment among a people, then 
the Mexicans must be deeply religious, for 
there seems to be little cessation in these calls 
to religious service during the Sabbath from 
early morning until after dark. In the larger 
cities like Puebla and the City of Mexico 
where there are a number of churches it seems 
to be one continual " clang-clang " of bells all 
through the day. 

The country seemed like a vast garden and 
everywhere could be seen the great maguey 
plant, a species of cactus from which pulque, 
the national drink, is extracted. To the south- 
east Mt. Popocatepetl reared its snow-white 
cone over 17,000 feet into the golden haze 

[83] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

of the distance. Near by is the jagged and 
snow-crowned Iztaccihuatl, a forbidding look- 
ing mountain, but not as high as Popocatepetl. 
The latter seems to dominate everything in 
this Mexican valley and it becomes more and 
more impressive as you approach it. It is 
almost a perfect cone from base to summit. 
No matter which way you turn you always 
seem to be conscious of this mountain. It is 
grand and majestic at all times and it must 
be to the Mexicans what Fujiyama is to the 
Japanese, a sort of crowning glory of their 
land. It is no wonder that the ancient Mexi- 
cans, in the days when this mountain was an 
active volcano, and its summit was crowned 
with fire and smoke, offered up sacrifices to 
the fire god who was supposed to reside in it. 
Nearer and nearer we approached this 
mountain until finally the train stopped at 
Ammeccamecca. This is the nearest railroad 
station to Mt. Popocatepetl and the point 
from which tourists who wish to climb the 
mountain usually start. From this point also 
a branch railroad runs to the city of Puebla 
while the main line runs to Orizaba and Vera 
Cruz. It was a short run from this point to 
Puebla, where I found an epidemic of small- 
pox was carrying off the peons at the rate of 
from twenty-five to fifty or so a day. Nobody 
seemed to mind this, however, and I found 

[84] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

as I drove across the city to the Hotel Jardin 
that the plaza was crowded with people who 
were enjoying a very fine military band con- 
cert, apparently indifferent to epidemics of 
any kind. These smallpox epidemics in Mexican 
cities seem to be confined to the lowest and 
dirtiest class of the natives, who swarm in 
some sections of the larger cities. 

After registering at the hotel and partaking 
of a light lunch I proceeded to get a little con- 
fidential with the hotel clerk — a Frenchman 
who could talk very good English. He had 
anticipated me to a certain extent. Of course 
I wanted to see the city and he introduced 
me on the spot to a young man who was 
anxious to guide me and who was just a little 
better acquainted with the English language 
than I was with Spanish, which was saying 
very little for his knowledge of English. I 
told him in the presence of the clerk that I 
wanted to go to the plaza first and from there 
I wanted to take a walk across the city to 
the Zaragoza bridge, then through the park 
to the Zaragoza statue. 

Both the clerk and the guide seemed a little 
surprised at my knowing so well where I 
wanted to go. Before I started I went to my 
room and took from my bag several of the 
reports of the Piper "sittings." The one which 
I was most particular about contained the 

[85] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

results of the latest "sittings" which Mr. 
Dodge had had with Mrs. Piper. This contained 
a description of the view to be had from the 
Zaragoza statue, or monument, and from which 
could be seen the hill in the valley on top 
of which was the building in which, according 
to Mrs. Piper, Dean Bridgman Conner was 
said to be confined. It was the key to the 
whole problem, and read as follows: 

"The building in which Dean B. Conner is 
said to be kept is in or near Puebla, Mexico. 
It is said to lie in a southeasterly direction 
from the city, and within a few miles, though 
this last may not be so correct. 

"At a recent 'sitting' with Mrs. Piper she 
directed that, having crossed the river over 
which is the Zaragoza bridge, you turn into 
the park opposite the military hospital, go 
through the park to the Zaragoza statue 
(not around the horse's head) and on to the 
hill back of the horse. When well up on the 
hill, even with the horse's back — possibly 
further — turn your back to the city, then, 
turning slowly to the left and looking over it 
(the city) you will see the building which lies 
on a small hill in a valley between the range 
of snow-capped mountains and a smaller 
range nearer in the foreground. The approach 
to the building is said to lie between four other 
buildings, there being five in all, and unless 

[86] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

the exact spot on the hill back of the statue 
is found, it cannot be seen between the distant 
hills. It may require a field glass, probably 
does, to see it from this hill on which you stand. 
Mrs. Piper said for one to take a glass; also, 
unless one did strike the exact spot on the 
hill, he might hunt for years without seeing 
it. So be very careful. (You had better *sit' 
with her on this and take careful notes.) 

"Between the city and the building almost 
daily goes a team consisting of a large gray 
horse (or mule), drawing a four-wheeled covered 
wagon, and evidently near the seat are the 
words 'Americano Mexicano Express.' The 
man driving the team is evidently a native 
(see Wells Fargo manager, who speaks English), 
although it may now have no connection 
with any other express — may be a wagon 
purchased from former express man. 

"In reports read 'Zaragoza' for 'Ariboza.' 
The name may not — and may be — over 
the door of the building. Think Mrs. Piper 
got name of stream from off the bridge in 
Puebla. 

"Mrs. Piper says that there are two trees 
in front of the building, one is healthy while 
the other is decaying and has grown scraggly." 

It was about four o'clock in the afternoon 
when we reached the plaza and the band con- 
cert was over. From this point we started 

[87] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

for the Zaragoza bridge about half a mile 
away. Sure enough, we came to the bridge, 
over the center arch of which, carved in the 
stone, were the words: "Zaragoza, May 5, 
1862." It spanned the Acoyata river. Then 
came the park with its tall trees and the 
military barracks and hospital on one side. 
After a short turn to the north we came in 
sight of the Zaragoza equestrian monument 
situated near the base of a gently sloping hill. 
The bronze group is mounted on a granite 
pedestal and surrounded by an iron raihng. 

So far everything was essentially as described 
by Mrs. Piper. Behind the monument and to 
the right of the approach was the palace of 
General Cervantes, the then resident general 
of the military forces in Puebla, and near by 
were the ruins of an old monastery. Crowning 
the top of the hill was the famous fortress 
of Guadalupe, also gone to decay. 

Here, then, was the statue, or rather monu- 
ment, which I had travelled so far to see and 
on which so much depended. And here was 
the hill which Mrs. Piper so accurately de- 
scribed. My Mexican guide chattered away 
in broken Spanish, for it had httle semblance 
of English, but I paid no attention to him. 
I slowly chmbed the hill around the rear of 
the monument, according to directions, until 
I was on a level with the horse's back and 

[88] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgivian Conner 

could see over it. I then slowly turned on 
my heels to the left and looked over the horse's 
back and across the city to the range of snow- 
capped mountains in the distance. There 
the mountains stood — possibly twenty miles 
away — the farthest range. First came Popo- 
catepetl and just beyond on the same line 
Iztaccihuatl, both snow-capped and looming 
up majestically against the sky like grim sen- 
tinels guarding the approaches to the City of 
Mexico. There could be no mistaking that 
snow-capped range. It is a sight one does not 
soon forget. In front of this great range could 
be seen a much lower mountain range, and in 
front of this latter range was a valley, the 
Cholula valley, out of which clearly rose an 
apparently isolated hill, on the top of which 
could be seen a white spot which looked like 
a building, or a group of buildings. It was 
impossible with the naked eye to tell which, 
as the hill was about seven or eight miles 
away, though, owing to the rarefied atmos- 
phere, apparently much nearer. 

In front of this hill and nearer the city was 
another, the hill of San Juan, then came 
the white city of Puebla with its great towered 
and domed cathedral and many other churches, 
and finally the monument in the immediate 
foregTound. 

The scene spread out before me answered 

[89] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Mrs. Piper's description perfectly, from this 
point. I gazed and gazed on it and read over 
the description several times to make sure 
that I was not dreaming; for, although I had 
expected it, yet I somehow had a peculiar 
feeling when I stood behind that statue and 
looked across the city and valley to the snow- 
capped range of miountains, that there was 
something unreal about it all. The nervous 
tension became more and more acute as I 
looked at the little hill with the white speck 
on top of it which rose out of the Cholula 
valley. That surely must be the hill and that 
white speck the building in which Dean Bridg- 
man Conner was confined. The scene seemed 
to burn itself into my brain and it became 
more and more picturesque and impressive as 
the sun passed behind the great snow-capped 
mountain range. 

I marvelled over the fact that Mrs. Piper 
could have described this scene when she was 
some four thousand miles av/ay. Yet some- 
how I had felt all the time that I should find 
the place and the scene exactly as she de- 
scribed them. And now I felt that as she 
was clearly right up to this point there could 
be no doubt about the rest. It ought not to 
be a very difficult task to go to that building 
on top of the little hill in the valley and rescue 
the young man who was said to be confined 

[90] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

there, especially when I had the power of the 
United States Government behind me if I 
found it necessary to use it. 

My guide couldn't tell me anything of the 
country beyond the city, at least I couldn't 
understand him, but I found out later that 
it was all historic ground and that the hill 
of Guadalupe on which I was standing was 
sacred ground to the people of the Republic 
of Mexico by reason of the fact that here the 
Mexican army, under General Zaragoza, had 
defeated the French army on May 5, 1862, 
and had driven the latter from the fortress 
which crowned the top of the hill. When the 
republic was established the fifth of May 
became a national holiday and General Zara- 
goza a national hero, for he dealt the first 
severe blow to Maximilian and his French 
troops. Diaz was one of his captains of cavalry 
at the time. He stormed the little hill of San 
Juan beyond the city of Puebla and captured 
it on the same day. 

It was during the visit of Mr. Dodge and 
Dr. Sparhawk to the city of Puebla the pre- 
ceding November that the monument to 
General Zaragoza had been unveiled and 
dedicated and the city given up to a three 
days' fete at the time. President Diaz came 
down from the capital with 20,000 troops to 
help make the event memorable, and during 

[91] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

the entire three days the city of Puebla was 
given over to such rejoicing as it had never 
witnessed before. That event and the prepara- 
tions leading up to it made a deep impression 
on all who saw them. I did not know until 
I returned from Mexico that either Mr. Dodge 
or Dr. Sparhawk had seen this Zaragoza monu- 
ment or been present in the city during the 
dedicatory exercises. 

That was all for that day. I returned to the 
hotel and did a lot of planning that evening 
for the morrow. I determined to make an 
early start and reconnoiter the distant valley 
from the hill of San Juan which was to the 
southwest and almost directly across the city 
from the Zaragoza monument and in a direct 
line with the little hill in the valley beyond. 
It was an anxious night and I slept but little. 
That little was all mixed up in a curious dream- 
medley with snow-capped mountains, hills 
and valleys, strange buildings and strange 
people. 



[92] 



CHAPTER Xin 

The next morning the young Mexican called 
at my room by seven o'clock and we started 
in a carriage before breakfast for the hill of 
San Juan from which a clearer view of the 
hill in the Cholula valley could be obtained 
than was possible from behind the Zaragoza 
statue on the hill of Guadalupe on the other 
side of the city. From this point I made a 
topographical study of the country and of 
the Cholula valley to the base of the moun- 
tains. Beyond the little hill could be seen the 
village of Cholula. 

I returned to the hotel from this brief study 
of the valley and after breakfast started alone 
for the village of Cholula on the little "bob 
tail" horse car which I found ran between the 
plaza in Puebla and the village. It was a 
pretty rough bit of street railroad. I kept 
that little hill in the valley constantly in view 
and as I approached it I noticed that there 
were two other hills, apparently very close to 
this one, both smaller than the first, however, 
and covered with foliage. 

Finally the car drew up close to these hills 
at the edge of Cholula village. A steam rail- 
road passes between the larger hill and the 

[93] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

two smaller ones. The larger hill was covered 
with a thick growth of foliage, but on the 
summit was an immense cathedral with two 
Moorish towers and a cupola. This proved to 
be the ancient cathedral of Los Remedios. 
The ascent to this cathedral was by means of 
a zigzag path and a long flight of steps. 

This is one of the oldest cathedrals in Mexico, 
and it is open to all. It was in charge of a 
native and his wife, and they with their little 
children lived in a portion of a wing of the 
building. A part of their revenue was derived 
from the sale of photographs of the altar, and 
of other souvenirs. The clergymen lived in 
the village near by. The cathedral is historic, 
and is kept open for pilgrims and visitors. 
It is regarded as of much traditional and 
spiritual importance to the natives, and no 
wonder, for on this hill, which turned out to 
be an immense pyramid, the Aztec and the 
Christian religions are irrevocably blended. 
This pyramid is known as Pyramid La Grande, 
the largest structure of the kind on the American 
continent and larger than any pyramid in 
Egypt. The two smaller hills proved also to 
be pyramids — Acosac and La Cruz. But there 
were no buildings on either of these pyramids. 

It is needless to say there was no Dean 
Bridgman Conner within the sacred precincts 
of the cathedral, nor any such person as Dr. 

[94] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Cintz. No such persons would be tolerated 
in the building, as far as living there was con- 
cerned, for the natives are extremely jealous 
of their places of worship. A place of worship 
is sacred ground to them in no ordinary sense. 
It would be considered sacrilege to keep such 
a person as Dean Bridgman Conner in the 
place. Yet this was the only building on a 
distinct eminence in the vicinity. 

It was in a sense a great shock to me, for 
since so much that Mrs. Piper had said had 
been proven true I had keen hopes of finding 
on this hill such a building as she described, 
and also of locating therein Dean Bridgman 
Conner. Still, it would be expecting a good 
deal to find the young man so quickly. Yet 
I was dazed for the moment after being shown 
about the cathedral by the native woman, 
and after I went out I stood for a long time 
in silence looking over the immense wall which 
surrounded the paved plaza on the top of 
the pyramid, and revolving in my mind what 
course to pursue next. 

The wind blew a gale up there, and the clouds 
of dust whirled through the village on which 
I looked down. The cathedral towers loomed 
high over me and the cupola with its richly 
glazed tiles from Tininnitzla, near by, glistened 
in the clear light. The only human being in 
sight, after parting with the native woman 

[95] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

inside the cathedral, was a horseman going 
at a breakneck pace over one of the roads 
after a runaway horse. My interest in that 
horseman took my thoughts from Dean Bridg- 
man Conner and Mrs. Piper for the moment 
and led me to an inspection of the surroimding 
country as well as a closer inspection of this 
remarkable pyramid and the cathedral on its 
summit. 

And whereas under ordinary circumstances 
this pyramid might be very impressive, it 
really seems insignificant because of the fact 
that the hoary Mt. Popocatepetl seems to 
loom directly over it more than 17,000 feet. 
That immense, snow-capped cone makes all 
other things in the vicinity seem insignificant. 
The pyramids of Egypt would lose their im- 
pressiveness in the presence of this mountain. 

I had learned from a boy who accosted me 
in fairly good English when I left the car the 
names of the pyramids and the cathedral. 
This boy wanted to accompany me as a guide, 
but I wished to go alone to the cathedral, 
so after extracting a little information I paid 
him a few centavos and ascended the pyramid. 

What the boy told me at the moment did 
not make much of an impression on me, but 
now it all began to dawn on me from a new 
point of view. I remembered my Prescott's 
History of Mexico in a dim sort of way. I 

[96] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

remembered this Cholula. The pyramid on 
which I stood must be the great teocalK which 
he described so vividly, on top of which the 
Aztec priests offered their human sacrifices 
to the fire god in Popocatepetl, which seems 
to loom directly over the village and pyramid. 
That is what the people in the vicinity of 
Cholula say — the sacrifices were to the fire 
god — but Prescott says the pyramid was 
built to the god Quetzalcoatl, who is said to 
have taught the inhabitants of the country 
the arts of Toltec civilization. The pyramid 
is said to be 170 feet high and 1420 feet long 
at the base — what is left of it. 

The city of Cholula, when the Spaniards 
visited it in 1519, was the Mecca of the re- 
ligions of Mexico. Here all the sects had their 
shrines and offered up their human sacrifices 
— as many as six thousand annually, it is 
said. But this Pyramid La Grande towered 
over all the others; it was the great Aztec 
pyramid where the priests from the City of 
Mexico held their services, and here, after 
the terrible massacre by the Spaniards and 
Tlascalans under Cortes in the city of Cholula, 
the priests held out and, rather than yield, 
flung themselves from the battlements of 
their temple on the summit to certain death. 

On the site of this temple, after the great 
image of the mystic, ebon-featured deity had 

[97] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

been destroyed, the Spaniards erected a huge 
cross, and later this cathedral, to prove that 
the church erected on the very pinnacle of 
the Aztec religion was the church triumphant. 
This spot was sacred to every traditional 
instinct of the native. It stood revealed 
through sanguinary conflict towering over the 
ruins of the pagan religion. 

It was certainly a strange place in which 
to find one's self at the end of the nineteenth 
century on such a quest as mine. For behind 
this quest were the latest results of scientific 
investigation along the lines of psychical 
research, from which it was hoped to at least 
shed some light on the mystery of death and 
the life hereafter. Practically the meaning of 
this psychical research was the solving of the 
same problem which had caused men in the 
dim past to rear this vast pyramid out of 
primitive bricks and mortar with infinite labor 
to the mystery which surrounds death, and 
here the Spaniards had likewise erected and 
dedicated in a sea of pagan blood their church 
to "the Prince of Peace," in whom their hope 
of a future life lay. And here, all unconscious 
of these things, I had come in an effort to 
prove the latest and apparently the most 
scientific explanation of what after all was 
simply the same old puzzle in a new form. 

It was a strange place to have drifted to 

[98] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

in this quest, for it must be borne in mind 
that the finding of Dean Bridgman Conner, 
important as that was, was in a sense in- 
cidental to the proving of the truth of Mrs. 
Piper's remarkable trance statements. If she 
were right, then here was at least hope that 
a new secret had been wrested from nature 
which might lead to a complete revolution 
in the entire attitude of mankind toward 
religion and death. 

The people engaged in this psychical research 
have hoped — and much of their work has 
been of undoubted importance — to broaden 
the entire scope of human intelligence by solv- 
ing the great riddle of the hereafter. They are 
loath to express themselves in this way for 
fear it might not appear scientific, but stripped 
down to the bone, that is what it means, 
and it is undoubtedly a great undertaking — 
it is one of the problems of the ages which 
has thus far eluded science. 

Looking out over this valley and at the 
great mountain which towered toward the 
skies, and at the tottering old ruin of a village 
which was at one time the populous and 
sacred city of Anahuac, there was plenty of 
play for the imagination. But that steam 
railroad running through the valley was a 
reminder of the material present, as was the 
little mule car which was disappearing in the 

[99] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

distance toward the city of Puebla, which the 
Spaniards had founded, and which had become 
a great and populous city while Cholula had 
gone to ruin and decay. 

But what of Dean Bridgman Conner? Was 
he alive or dead? Where was he? This was 
the immediate question for me to solve. But 
how? What was to be done next? I made 
a study of the valley and noticed that many 
of the larger buildings — the haciendas — 
were built on rises of ground, none of them, 
however, anything in size like the pyramid on 
which I stood. I made some topographical 
sketches of the valley to enable me to pursue 
my investigations with some knowledge of the 
general drift of the land. Then I decided to 
explore the village of Cholula. So I descended 
from the cathedral and then noticed that the 
great pyramid was built in a series of terraces. 
I entered the little steam railroad station 
near by to learn something about the trains 
to Puebla and found I had plenty of time to 
explore the village. In the little station I 
found a boy who had charge of the place and 
the telegraph. He, too, could speak a little 
English, and when I entered he was patiently 
writing out Spanish words on a large sheet 
of paper, with the English equivalents. He 
told me something further about the great 
cathedral and gave me some idea of the village. 

[100] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

So I started on my exploring tour, which 
did not result in anything, and after a couple 
of hours I returned to the little station and 
helped the boy in his work of translating. 
This pleased him immensely and he insisted 
on bringing his father up from the village 
to meet me. When I left my new acquaintances 
urged me to call again and visit them. The 
father could not speak a word of English but 
he could smile at everything and he smoked 
cigarettes continuously. He was evidently 
proud of his boy, who appeared to be a very 
bright little fellow. 

I was satisfied when I left on the train 
that there was nothing in Cholula which I 
wanted, but I satisfied myself more fully later 
through a peculiar source — another one of 
those lucky accidents that befell me during 
my quest. 

It was after nine o'clock that night when 
I got back to Puebla, and I was hungry. The 
landlord of the Hotel Jardin very kindly had 
supper prepared for me. 

Thus ended the first day of my search in 
Puebla and Cholula for Dean Bridgman Con- 
ner. I went to bed that night disappointed 
and in a confused state of mind. But I was 
tired, and I slept soundly. 



[101] 



CHAPTER XIV 

I awoke early the next morning with a 
queer feeling of uncertainty and a rather 
painful impression that something was wrong 
and that both my plans and my hopes had 
been in a measure shattered through my 
experience of the previous day at Pyramid 
La Grande and in Cholula. 

For the first time a doubt crept into my 
mind that perhaps Mrs. Piper was mistaken. 
But I was too much u^ider the spell of a hitherto 
unshaken confidence in her to give the doubt 
much more than a passing and momentary 
consideration. She could not be wrong! Be- 
cause if she were wrong Dr. Hodgson must 
also be wrong, and all the great men who 
had investigated her must be wrong, although 
they had nothing directly to do with this 
case. Yet, indirectly I felt they had much to 
do with it, as their confidence in her was in 
a large measure the basis of my confidence. 

No, Mrs. Piper could not be wrong. Yet 
in spite of this deduction, the problem did 
not look as simple or tangible as it had looked 
up to this moment. It is true that everything 
had turned out much as Mrs. Piper had out- 
lined. There was the bridge with the word 
"Zaragoza" cut in the keystone. There was 

[102] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

the statue — horse and rider — as she had 
described; and there was that wonderful scene 
looking over the city and across the valley 
to the range of snow-capped mountains. And 
there — there in that valley was the hill, and 
on top of it was a building as she had described. 
And it was the only hill in that valley — 
looking in the direction indicated — that could 
be seen from behind the statue of General 
Zaragoza. 

As I lay there in bed I saw it all vividly 
again. Everything was just as she had de- 
scribed — everything! — except that the cathe- 
dral of Los R,emedios did not answer the vague 
description of a building such as she had given, 
and it certainly was no such institution as 
she had described, and consequently there 
was no Dr. Cintz, and naturally there was no 
Dean Bridgman Conner in the building. But 
after all it would be expecting a great deal — 
too much, perhaps — to find him the very first 
day of the search. I had about consoled myself 
with this reflection when there was a knock 
at my door, and it rather startled me, for it 
was only a few minutes past six o'clock. 

I jumped out of bed, unlocked the door, 
and there stood the young Mexican guide, 
with a broad grin on his face. I told him to 
wait for me in the patio and I hurriedly dressed. 
He had come thus early, I later learned, 

[ 103 ] 



The Quest for Bean Bridgman Conner 

because he worked in the bank on the plaza 
and had to be on duty at nine o'clock. So he 
thought he might earn an honest dollar before 
he went to work by escorting me once more 
about the city. And I wanted him for just 
that purpose, or rather to take me once more 
to the statue of General Zaragoza. 

So after a light breakfast we started for the 
hill of Guadalupe and the statue, which by 
this time had become fixed in my consciousness 
as a sort of focal point around which my work 
in Puebla and vicinity must revolve. 

It was a sunshiny and altogether a beautiful 
morning, and so crystal clear was the atmos- 
phere that it was possible to see a long dis- 
tance. I studied the distant valley once more, 
up and down, along the base of the mountain 
range which runs from Popocatepetl slightly 
to the northeast. I noticed a number of villages 
and slight rises of ground here and there on 
which were buildings and churches, but that 
Pyramid La Grande was the most promising 
hill in the valley so far as Mrs. Piper's descrip- 
tion was concerned, and in fact the only hill 
which fully fitted the description she had 
given. 

After our return to the hotel I decided to 
use a letter of introduction, which Mr. Dodge 
had given me, to Dr. Carl Osterheld, a young 
American physician, graduate of the Columbia 

[104] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Medical School, who had been practising in 
Puebla for several years. He first went down 
to Puebla for his health, and decided to settle 
there for a time. To him and to his wife, 
Mrs. Hettie Faber Osterheld, I am indebted 
for many courtesies during my stay in Puebla, 
and for many courtesies since that time in 
their home at Yonkers in New York State. 

The doctor was very busy that day, for the 
epidemic of smallpox taxed the time and 
energy of all the physicians in the city. So 
I returned to the plaza and hunted up a book- 
store. Here I purchased a map of the city of 
Puebla and its immediate environs. I took 
this map to my room and began to study it 
over carefully. As a specimen of map making 
it surprised me because of the excellent work- 
manship and the evident scientific care which 
had been taken in its compilation. Every 
village and even hacienda in that Cholula 
valley was carefully given with the names of 
the haciendas, distances, etc. That map aided 
me much in my subsequent work in and 
around Puebla. 

After several hours of study of this map 
in my room, I went down to the patio of the 
hotel and seated myself in an easy chair to 
think matters over. Seated near me in another 
chair was a Roman Catholic priest whom I 
had noticed in the hotel at breakfast that 

[105] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

morning. He was evidently not a Mexican. 
He was a large man of florid complexion. I 
was rather surprised when he spoke to me in 
excellent English, asking me what I thought 
of the city. Then followed an interesting con- 
versation of several hours, and I trust, if the 
reverend gentleman is alive, that he will for- 
give me if I break a little personal confidence 
so as to make more clear certain things about 
Puebla and Cholula in connection with my 
hunt for Dean Bridgman Conner. 

In the first place, the priest was born in 
France, but came to the United States when 
a boy and studied for the priesthood at Balti- 
more, where he was ordained. After a short 
time in that diocese he was transferred to 
Texas, where he lived among the cowboys. 
He laughingly told me that the cowboys 
would do anything for him if he would not 
talk religion to them. He had lived with them 
on the plains and he carried a broken wrist 
which he said bore testimony to his clumsiness 
while lassoing a steer. 

The same causes which led to his transfer 
to Texas led to his transfer to Puebla some 
three years previous to our conversation. I 
judged from some of his observations that he 
was not always wholly amenable to the strict 
discipline of the priesthood. However, he 
was a philosopher and he smiled over his mis- 

[106] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

fortunes. But he loved the United States and 
had hopes of getting back there some day. 
Whether he ever did, I know not. 

He said that after his arrival at Puebia he 
was first stationed at Cholula, where he re- 
mained about a year, but as the natives do 
not like foreign priests he was removed to 
Puebia, where he had not been regularly as- 
signed, and at the time he was engaged in 
teaching French and English in private families. 

He knew Puebia and Cholula, in and out. 
So, without letting him know my business, I 
questioned him closely on every point per- 
taining to the country that had any bearing 
on my search for Dean Bridgman Conner. 
He explained the almost fanatic religious zeal 
of the natives, their customs in the villages 
where the cacique ruled them as he had in 
the days of the Aztecs before the Spaniards 
came, and in spite of the fact that there were 
regular government officials in these places. 

So strong was the old Aztec instinct in the 
natives that in a village like Cholula an escort 
of several men was sent to the priest's resi- 
dence on Sundays to bring him to church, 
just as the ancient Aztec priests were escorted 
to the sacrificial tempjes on the pyramids. 
The troubles of my friend the priest with the 
natives began when he demurred against 
being escorted in this manner^ 

r 107 1 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

His annoyance over this unsolicited escort 
aroused a suspicious enmity among the natives, 
who do not look with favor on foreign priests, 
and with less of favor on American priests 
than those of other nationalities. They pro- 
tested to the Archbishop; hence the transfer 
of the priest to Puebla. But in spite of this 
opposition he was well liked by many of the 
upper class people in Puebla. 

He explained to me with a good deal of 
acumen and insight into native Mexican char- 
acter the traditional dislike the common people 
of Mexico have for foreigners, and the jealousy 
with which they regarded those foreigners 
who came to work and reside among them. 
And he thought this feeling was more intense 
among the natives of the Cholula valley than 
those of any other portion of Mexico. 

He next explained the peculiar Jefe Politico 
system, by means of which the federal govern- 
ment of Diaz kept a vigil on every portion of the 
republic. Each state had in it a Jefe Politico, 
an official somewhat like a United States 
marshal, only the Jefe Politico had almost 
unlimited powers. He was higher in authority 
than the elected governor of the state, and 
had at his command the military forces which 
were stationed in the state. In addition his 
minions were in every village and town of the 
state and they furnished him with reports 

[108] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

of the conditions in their localities each day 
or week as the case might require. The central 
or federal government was thus kept in touch 
with every corner of the republic by means 
of the bureau telegraph lines. If, for instance, 
the Jefe Politico thought the streets needed 
cleaning, he promptly suggested the fact to 
the proper local official, and if it was not done 
promptly, he ordered it done — and it was 
done when he ordered it. This is only given 
as an example of his authority. 

The Jefe Politico or his bureau knew every 
building and every adobe hut in his district, 
and I found that even the flimsiest adobe huts 
in the country districts had numbers on them. 
So it will readily be seen that when this man 
turned on the wheels of his bureau to find 
anybody he was usually successful. In fact, 
I found that because of this bureau it would 
be much more difficult to hide at that time in 
that part of Mexico than in the United States. 

This information did not all come from the 
priest at one sitting. We had several conversa- 
tions during my stay and we became very good 
friends. Still this and other information which 
he gave me was of much service during my 
search. It threw light on social and govern- 
mental conditions as did my talks with Dr. 
and Mrs. Osterheld — which it would take 
much time to acquire in any other way. 

[109] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

I might state that Senor Mirus, the Jefe 
PoHtico of Puebla at the time, aided the search 
in every way possible and got reports from all 
of his agents. When Mr. Dodge was in Puebla, 
Mirus sent some soldiers to help him search 
a place in the suburbs of which Mr. Dodge 
was suspicious. 

But to come back to my own work. For 
more than a week I carefully studied the city 
and its institutions. These had all been in- 
vestigated before, however, and my investiga- 
tions revealed nothing new regarding them. 
In addition to this, Dr. Osterheld — who knew 
the city and its institutions thoroughly, and 
who was in close touch with the health and 
government authorities — assured me that such 
an institution as Dr. Cintz was supposed to 
conduct would be impossible in the city proper 
at least. And, for obvious reasons, such an 
institution could not be conducted beyond 
the confines of the city, and be in any way 
in touch with the city, without its becoming 
known not only to the Jefe Politico but to 
the merchants of the city and to the clergy. 

Be that as it may. Dr. Osterheld and myself 
visited the Zaragoza statue together and took 
with us a powerful field glass. With this we 
scanned the entire country, looking everywhere 
for any promising-looking hills with buildings 
on them. There was just one, besides Pyramid 

[110] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

La Grande, which looked at all promising. 
It was located about fifteen miles away to 
the southeast in the Cholula valley, near the 
village of Santa Maria. It was a low hill and 
on top of it was what looked like a group of 
buildings. The more we studied this group 
the more it seemed to answer the Piper de- 
scription, and we determined to visit the place 
the next day. 

But while we were at the Zaragoza statue this 
particular day, and while we were referring 
to Mrs. Piper's description of the scene, we 
made a peculiar discovery. I hadn't paid 
any attention to the points of the compass, 
but Dr. Osterheld called my attention to the 
fact that Mt. Popocatepetl and the snow- 
capped range of mountains were slightly south- 
west of the point at which we stood behind 
the Zaragoza statue instead of the southeast, 
as Mrs. Piper had stated. Almost due east 
from the statue was Mt. Orizaba, snow-capped, 
rising some 18,000 feet above the sea level, 
and about sixty miles away, yet ^ clearly 
visible — the highest mountain in Mexico. 

However, on looking toward Mt. Orizaba 
one did not look across the city. The city 
was slightly south of a direct line and all that 
intervened on the outside of the city was a 
few straggling houses. But we carefully scanned 
this whole country to the east, and therein 

[111] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

we could not detect either a hill or a building 
that in any way filled Mrs. Piper's description. 
So we returned to Dr. Osterheld's home in 
the city and discussed with Mrs. Osterheld 
the entire matter. Then they told me some 
things about Mr. Dodge's visit to Puebla 
which showed how much of anxiety both he 
and Dr. Sparhawk had suffered during their 
search for Dean Bridgman Conner in and 
around Puebla while following the instructions 
of Dr. Hodgson and Mrs, Piper, 



in] 



CHAPTER XV 

Early in the forenoon of the following day, 
Dr. Osterheld and I secured horses and started 
from the Alameda in the southwestern part 
of the city of Puebla for the hill near the 
village of Santa Maria. As "hold-ups" were 
not infrequent in that part of the state, the 
doctor went armed. We took the road which 
leads past the Pantheon Municipale and the 
Catholic cemetery, and about a mile from this 
point we forded the Rio Aticipa which joins 
the Rio Atoyac a few miles farther to the 
southeast. 

The road was in very bad condition — 
gullied and furrowed by the rains during the 
wet season, and apparently never repaired. 
Occasionally we overtook and passed packs 
of burros that were heavily laden with all 
kinds of produce, carried pannier fashion, 
while sandalled natives ran beside the patient 
little animals and goaded them on. Many 
of the natives held carefully in one hand 
bottles of oil which had been blessed by the 
Archbishop or his assistants in the cathedral 
at Puebla. This oil was used to feed the lamps 
which are burned before the family patron 
saint, for in Mexico nearly every native family 
has its own patron saint. In fact, the statue 

[113] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

or image of the saint is an important feature 
of even the small adobe dwellings, and is 
usually allotted a special room, even when 
there are only two, or three rooms at the out- 
side, in these native houses. And the clothing 
for many of these saintly images is quite an 
item of expense in some Mexican families; 
for not only are the garments as expensive 
as the owner of the image can afford, but it is 
considered necessary by most Mexican families 
to get a complete new wardrobe for the image 
at least once a year. 

In one hut which we visited near the village 
of Tininnitzla, we found in the "saint's room*' 
an almost life-size figure of Christ on the Cross, 
carved out of wood. It was admirable as a 
piece of wood carving and the native said it 
had been in his family for generations. At the 
time he himself looked as if he might be at 
least eighty years old. 

We two "gringos" attracted a good deal 
of attention that hot day as we rode through 
the villages down the valley by that one 
thread of a road. And it was a very hot day. 
There was not a cloud in the soft, cobalt sky, 
but the fields were fresh and green, for this 
is one of the most fertile valleys in the world, 
and the range of mountains to the south which 
connects Mt. Orizaba with Mt. Popocatepetl 
looked a cool purple in the soft light. 

[114] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

In every village there loomed up splendid 
old churches and monasteries, some of them 
seemingly neglected and going to ruin, but 
every one of them a rich example of that 
extraordinary Spanish-Colonial architecture 
which the conquistadores introduced into this 
valley in the sixteenth century. Nearly all 
the churches had one or two Moorish towers 
and usually a great dome covered with yellow, 
glazed tiles that glistened in the clear sunlight 
like burnished gold. 

It was in this valley, at Tininnitzla, that the 
finest glazed tiles the world has ever seen 
were made in the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries. But the fine art of tile glazing has 
become obsolete in Tininnitzla, although I 
found that considerable glazed pottery, of a 
rather crude character, was still made in the 
village. 

These remarkable architectural achievements 
in the Cholula valley were built long before 
the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. On the 
capstone of the front fagade of the great 
cathedral in Puebla is the date 1575, and it is 
a veritable art treasure house inside. On the 
walls are paintings by famous Spanish, Italian 
and French artists of the sixteenth and seven- 
teenth centuries, and there is one immense 
tapestry, the gift of Charles V of Spain. The 
choir screens were richly carved by Flemish 

[115] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

wood carvers, and the altar is of solid silver 
and onyx. And high up over the altar is a 
large star of diamonds. There were art treas- 
ures in nearly all the old churches and monas- 
teries in the Cholula valley which we passed 
that day. 

And the villages through which we passed 
were prosperous-looking villages — as pros- 
perity went in that part of Mexico at the time. 
But there ought not to be anything other 
than prosperity in such a rich valley. Yet 
there seemed to be an utter lack of intelligence 
in the faces of many of the people we met. 
The children looked bright enough, and the 
girls and women looked bright, but most of 
the men looked flaccid and expressionless. 

Finally we arrived at the little hill with the 
buildings on it, near Santa Maria. The hill 
was isolated and a small stream flowed in 
front of it. It was the center of a rich planta- 
tion. The hill was crowned with a group of 
stone buildings encircled by a high, thick stone 
wall that was pierced by an arched gateway 
with heavy doors, one of which was swung 
back. As we rode up to this gateway, we noticed 
a man about to mount a horse. He had a 
rifle and he looked inquiringly at us as we 
approached the entrance. He was a fine- 
looking, middle-aged man, short and thick 
set. He proved to be Senor Vasquez, owner 

[116] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

of this well-named hacienda of Buena Vista, 
and was just about to start for another one 
of his estates farther to the east. 

Dr. Osterheld explained to him that we 
were Americans and would like to look through 
the buildings. He immediately turned to his 
administradore or superintendent and ordered 
the latter to show us through the entire place. 
Senor Vasquez then bade us adios and rode 
away. The administradore carried out his 
master's instructions to the letter. He even 
took us into the sleeping apartments, where 
rifles hung on the walls, into the kitchen, dining 
room, and up to the flat roof, from which a 
splendid view of the surrounding country 
was had; then into the granary and store- 
houses, the section in which the cattle were 
housed and, in fact, through every portion of 
the vast building, or series of buildings, which 
looked more like a fortification than anything 
else. 

These haciendas were built for piu-poses 
of defense against bandits. The immense wall 
which surrounded this hacienda of Buena 
Vista is common to all the older haciendas. 
The natives who worked on the estate built 
their huts close to this wall, and if the bandits 
approached the natives went inside the wall 
and the strong gates were barred and bolted. 
There is also an architectural similarity to all 

[117] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

of these old haciendas. It is well to bear 
this fact in mind. 

When the administradore was asked if white 
men ever worked on the estates in that country 
he laughed and pointed to the native huts. 
He explained that labor costs practically 
nothing there. The haciendados could get 
all the labor they wanted for twenty-five 
centavos a day — about twelve and one-half 
cents. The feudal idea persists. The natives 
go with the estate as a general thing, as in 
feudal times. They regard themselves as part 
of the estate and they have certain traditional 
rights which must be respected. They have 
a great many feast days, for instance, during 
which they will not work. The fact of the 
matter is the estate must keep them. They 
are born and die on the estate and regard 
themselves as a part of it. It is theirs in a 
sense just as much as the lawful owner's. 

When asked if he had ever heard of such 
an institution as Dr. Cintz was supposed to 
run, the administradore shook his head and 
smiled. He did not believe such an institution 
could exist in the country without his knowing 
of it, and he had never heard that any white 
man lived in that part of the country. 

He was as frank in his conversation with 
Dr. Osterheld as he was in his effort to show 
us everything in the hacienda. In fact it was 

[118] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

with some pride that this swarthy and in- 
telhgent native showed us all through the 
place over which he was administr adore. 

In a general way this hacienda answered 
the description given by Mrs. Piper. There 
was a main building surrounded by a group 
of buildings. There was an archway entrance, 
and down near the foot of the hill on either 
side of the road which led to the entrance 
were two trees, one in bloom and the other 
dead and "scraggly." But there was no Dean 
Bridgman Conner at Buena Vista, nor was there 
a Dr. Cintz. 

So the return trip was taken up over the 
rough road. A lunch was had in a native hut on 
the way back. It consisted of eggs and corn 
cakes made from corn which the native woman 
ground in the most primitive fashion, at the 
moment. These cakes were made very thin 
and baked hard. Then came a sauce of some 
very hot peppers. It was more of an experi- 
ence than a meal, but probably it was a sumptu- 
ous affair at that. Such things depend on the 
point of view and previous experience. 

We reached Puebla at nightfall, and one 
gringo was pretty well used up after the day's 
work, for he was unused to horseback riding. 
And the fruitlessness of the trip did not tend 
to cheer him any. 

My hopes were blasted now, in so far as 

[119] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

I had had hopes of finding Dean Bridgman 
Conner in or near Puebla, and my faith in 
Mrs. Piper was almost gone. For I had come 
to know Puebla and the country found about 
Puebla. The mystery had gone out of Puebla. 
That city was now as real to me as Boston. 
And furthermore this whole case had begun 
to take on some new aspects, and some vague 
suspicions in my mind had become rather 
clear and definite assumptions. So, on the 
way back to Puebla, I had decided on a new 
course of action, for I made up my mind I 
would not return to Boston until I had cleared 
up the Dean Bridgman Conner mystery. 

This trip with a little further investigation 
of the immediate suburbs of Puebla practically 
wound up my work in that place. 



[no] 



CHAPTER XVI 

I now reviewed the entire case in tlie light 
of my experiences in and around Puebla, and 
in doing so I became more and more impressed 
with the hold the Piper view of the case had 
on me. It was difficult to think rationally 
from any other standpoint. However, without 
wholly forsaking the theory that Mrs. Piper 
was right, I determined that a plain, common- 
sense investigation of Dean Bridgman Conner's 
life in the City of Mexico was necessary before 
I went any farther in pursuit of the young 
man on the lines laid down by Mrs. Piper 
and her "controls" and by Dr. Richard Hodg- 
son. I was determined, if possible, to get at 
the exact truth, and in order to do this it more 
and more seemed necessary that I should 
meet the people who had known Dean Bridg- 
man Conner, the people with whom he had 
worked, and with whom he had associated in 
the City of Mexico. 

I had been thirteen days in Puebla and 
vicinity, and it was with a feeling of regret 
that I parted with Dr. and Mrs. Osterheld 
at the station. They had helped me a great 
deal during my investigations. Their knowl- 
edge of the language, of the city and country, 

[ 121 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

and of the people, including officials, was of 
inestimable value to me. In fact, had it not 
been for their interest and kindness and the 
interest and kindness of the Catholic priest, 
it would have taken me at least a month to 
accomplish what I had been enabled to ac- 
complish in thirteen days. 

I don't believe I ever felt any more lonesome 
or sick at heart in my life than when I stepped 
on the train at Puebla to ride to the City 
of Mexico. Up to this time I had been, as 
it were, under orders and following instruc- 
tions; now I was going to act on my own 
initiative and I had no idea what it would 
lead to, or where. 

And perhaps it was just as well that I didn't 
grasp the full magnitude of the task that was 
ahead of me. But I made up my mind to go 
at the thing logically and follow it step by 
step wherever it led. The Dean Bridgman 
Conner that I had been thus far following 
was a sort of dream figure. There was really 
nothing very tangible about his personality 
in my conception of him. I must know him 
more intimately. So, on the ride up from 
Puebla I made up my mind to begin at once, 
that afternoon, the task of finding out some- 
thing of the real Dean Bridgman Conner. 

Other than to make a few notes I hadn't 
thus far written anything on the case for my 

[ 122 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

paper. It wasn't necessary, for two reasons. 
In the first place it wasn't necessary from the 
standpoint of memory, as I had thought about 
nothing else for more than a month. It was 
on my mind night and day. And in the second 
place I wasn't expected to write on it until 
I got back to Boston with the problem solved 
either one way or the other — either bring 
back Dean Bridgman Conner alive or prove 
that he was dead. 

I arrived in the City of Mexico about three 
in the afternoon, went straight to the Hotel 
Iturbide, registered, washed my face and 
hands, jumped into a cab and was driven to 
the American hospital, near Tlaxpana on 
the western outskirts of the city. I had deter- 
mined to begin my investigation there and 
follow up whatever lead I might develop in 
that institution. 

In less than a half hour the cab drew up in 
front of the hospital. The main building, two 
stories in height, stands back about one hundred 
feet from the street, and a broad flight of 
steps leads to the entrance. There was a little 
garden in front. On either side of the main 
building and extending toward the street were 
one story buildings — wards — which were 
reached from the garden paths by flights of 
steps. Extending back from either side of 
the main building were two other wards, and 

[ns] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

at the end of the yard space was a small build- 
ing — the morgue. A high wall surrounded 
the buildings and grounds. The entrance 
from the street was through an iron gate in 
front. 

The administration office was on the first 
floor of the main building to the left of the 
main entrance. Here I found Mrs. Netter- 
burgh, the matron. She was a rather large 
woman, past middle age. She bore an excellent 
reputation among the American residents of 
the City of Mexico. 

I stated my business to her and she seemed 
rather surprised — surprised because she said 
she thought the entire matter had been satis- 
factorily settled during Mr. Dodge's first visit 
to Mexico. However, she was perfectly willing 
to tell me all she knew about Dean Bridgman 
Conner. That was all I wanted. 

She got her record book and explained how 
Dean Bridgman Conner had come to the 
hospital on February 21, 1895, in company 
with a young man, and how he was placed 
in one of the wards in front of the building 
until a house physician examined him. He 
was found to be suffering from typhoid fever, 
and was consequently removed the following 
day to a room in the contagious ward to 
the left, and in the rear, of the main 
building. 

[124] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

She showed me the register to verify her 
statements. She said the young man was 
very weak when he arrived and that he needed 
constant attention up to the last moment. 
She told of Consul-General Crittenden's in- 
terest in Dean Bridgman Conner from the 
first. 

When asked if she had seen the body after 
death, she said "No." 

"Who had.?" 

With that she summoned a native male 
nurse named Guillermo Luna, who had at- 
tended young Conner. The nurse was very 
confident he had seen young Conner before 
and after death, and had helped dress the 
body for burial. Guillermo's appearance did 
not inspire much confidence in me at the time. 

When asked if the Consul-General had 
seen the young man, Mrs. Netterburgh said 
"No," as typhoid was classed as a contagious 
disease in Mexico, and nobody ever went 
near the patients who had contagious diseases, 
except the nurses and hospital attendants. 

This certainly seemed proper enough. From 
all hospitals patients who die of contagious 
diseases are buried every day, and friends are 
not permitted to see them after death. And 
for the same reason Mrs. Netterburgh herself 
had never been near the young man after 
he had been placed in the contagious ward. 

[125] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Her duties were in the business office. The 
patients, after they entered, were in charge 
of the head nurse. I asked her who the head 
nurse was at the time of young Conner's 
illness. She said that a Miss Smith, a graduate 
of the Denver Hospital, at Denver, Col., 
was then the head nurse. I asked where Miss 
Smith was, for this was the first time I had 
heard of her. Mr. Dodge had never mentioned 
her to me and he later informed me that he 
himseH had never heard of her until some 
time after he had been to the hospital the first 
time, and then her name did not make much 
of an impression on him. 

Mrs. Netterburgh hesitated a moment and 
seemed embarrassed, but finally she said she 
did not know where Miss Smith was, as she 
had left the hospital about one month after 
Dean Bridgman Conner's death. Since then 
she had heard that Miss Smith was married 
to a man named Winn. She had also heard 
that the couple had been seen in several places 
in the republic, but she knew nothing definite 
about them. 

Then Mrs. Netterburgh was asked if a 
patient named "Weltch" or "Welsh" had 
died in the hospital during the time Conner 
was there. This is the name of the person 
who, Mrs. Piper claimed, was bi^ied in place 
of Dean Bridgman Conner and on whose 

[ne] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

body Dean's clothes had been placed by the 
native nurses so as to make the deception all 
the more complete. Mrs. Netterburgh said 
that no such person had been in the hospital, 
and she exhibited the register on which all 
names were entered when patients arrived, 
to prove her statement. 

Here are the names of those who entered 
the hospital during the month of February 
and the first part of the month of March, 
covering the whole period of Dean Bridgman 
Conner's illness in the hospital: 

Hon. P. J. Gray, United States IVIinister 
to Mexico; died same day, of apoplexy, Febru- 
ary 14. 

L. Medrichtner, February 19. 

A. E. Bates, February 20. 

F. U. Winn, February 21. 

C. Hegenald, February 21. 
J. A. Stewart, February 21. 

D. B. Conner, February 21. 
W. T. Peck, February 22. 
Edgar Hahn, February 27. 

R. Kennette McRae, February 28. 

Louis Kohler, February 28. 

George McVicker, March 1. 

A. McRae, March 2. 

J. Dickey, March 5. 

ISirs. Barrett, March 9. 

George Wrighton, March 11. 

[127] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Of these United States Minister Gray died, 
as stated, on February 14; Dean B. Conner 
on March 15, and George Wrighton, after a 
twenty-eight days' illness, on April 7. 

If the records of the institution are to be 
believed, these are the exact facts relative to 
the patients who were in the hospital and 
those who died during the period of Dean 
Bridgman Conner's illness there. I noticed 
that against about half the names in that 
record book was the word "Alcoholism." 

Further conversation drew out the fact 
that Miss Smith was present at the bedside 
of Dean Bridgman Conner when he died; 
also the fact that three different nurses under 
the charge of Miss Smith had attended him 
during his illness. The expense of caring for 
the young man was $25 per week, besides 
the expense for extra nurses, brandy and 
such things, making the whole amount, Mrs. 
Netterburgh thought, $140, which Consul- 
General Crittenden paid her after the funeral. 
The young man's trunk was opened in the 
presence of the Consul-General and a suit 
of clothes was taken therefrom in which to 
clothe the body for burial. Then all the rest 
of the effects were turned over to the Consul- 
General. He had been promptly notified of 
Conner's death, and Mrs. Netterburgh said 
that he came immediately to the hospital. 

[ 128 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

She then took me to the room in the con- 
tagious ward in which young Conner had died. 
It was a small room with one small window 
which was barred with iron bars outside. 
No person could possibly squeeze through 
the spaces between these bars, but if a delirious 
person should get through that barred window, 
he would next have to scale a wall about nine 
feet high. Otherwise if he were taken from 
the institution he would have to go through 
the grounds and through the iron gate in 
front, which, by the way, was kept constantly 
locked. There was a watchman on the grounds 
all night, and there were two pretty fierce 
watch dogs chained on the grounds. So if 
Dean Bridgman Conner left that institution 
alive, he must have gone with the full knowl- 
edge and consent of those in charge of the 
grounds. 

Mrs. Netterburgh could not remember the 
exact time of burial, but she was sure that 
no Americans accompanied the body to the 
grave. She was pretty certain the burial 
occurred early the next morning, as is the 
custom when patients die of contagious dis- 
eases. But nobody in the hospital could be 
found who had seen the body of Dean Bridg- 
man Conner after death except the native 
nurse Guillermo Luna (William Moon). Clearly 
then, the person to find was Miss Smith. But 

[ 129 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

where could such a wanderer be found, and 
why had not Mr. Dodge said something 
about her to me before I left Boston? 

Before leaving the hospital I asked for Dr. 
Bray, the physician who had attended Dean 
Bridgman Conner. I learned that he had 
severed his connection with the institution 
some months previously, and had left the 
country. I also learned later that although 
he was an excellent physician, he was an 
adventurous spirit, with a passion for wealth 
and other things which led him into a variety 
of schemes, and he had found it convenient 
to take up a residence in Guatemala. 

After leaving Mrs. Netterburgh, I paid a 
visit to the American cemetery near by. It 
is beautifully located on a rise of ground 
sheltered by tall trees and surrounded by a 
stone wall, and it was well kept. 

The superintendent, Capt. John Ayers, was 
found. He was an old Grand Army man, 
rather short of stature and somewhat deaf. 
He ^poke in a high treble so that there was 
not much of an opportunity to hold a quiet 
conversation with him on any subject, but 
when the name of Dean Bridgman Conner 
was mentioned the captain raised his voice 
higher than usual. Asked if he was sure Conner 
had been buried in the cemetery, he said: 

"Well, all I got to say is I wish I was as 

[ 130 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

sure of five years more of my life as I am that 
he is over there in that grave," pointing to 
a grave near the center of the cemetery. 

"Did you see him when he was buried?" 
I asked. 

"Did I see him.? — Of course I did." 

"Are you sure his body was in the casket.?" 

"No, I'm sure the casket was put in the 

grave, and if he was in the casket he's there 

now. None of 'em ever came back yet," he 

concluded with some emphasis. 

He then invited me to his office to see the 
records, and as he turned them over he re- 
marked : 

"That young man was buried a poor man. 
He had nothing, and what would they 
want to make away with him for if he had 
nothing.? That's all nonsense." The captain 
had evidently heard all about Dean Bridgman 
Conner. He then showed me the order the 
Consul-General had sent for a grave for Dean 
Bridgman Conner. It read as follows: 

United States National Cemetery, 
United States Consulate-General, 
City of Mexico, March 15, 1895. 
John Ayers, Keeper of the American National 
Cemetery, at Tlaxpana, near the City of Mexico, 
Sir: You are hereby authorized to permit 
the burial of Dean Bridgman Conner, an 

[ 131 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

American citizen, in the cemetery under your 
charge. 

Yours very respectfully, 

Thomas T. Crittenden, 
U, S, Consul-GeneraL 

Note: The U. S. Government furnishes 
free of charge a place and an ordinary grave. 
Any extra work such as placing large boxes, 
building brick vaults, etc., must be done at 
private expense. 

"That young man had no money or he 
wouldn't have been buried in that grave," 
remarked Captain Ayers, as he put back 
the paper in the file. 

"Didn't you receive any money for the 
grave?" 

"No," was the reply. "The only money I 
ever received was five Mexican dollars some 
time after the burial to pay for the putting 
of some bricks on the grave." 

In point of fact the family thought the 
expenses included a brick-lined grave, and 
the only explanation that can be offered for 
this and some other charges made on the 
bill is that the traditions of the American 
consular service are not consistent with the 
ordinary methods of doing business. 

That ended the conversation with Captain 

[ 132 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Ayers. It was after sunset and nothing more 
could be done that day. 

To my mind Mrs. Netterburgh and Captain 
Ayers told the truth. 



[133] 



CHAPTER XVII 

After all there was some satisfaction in 
this afternoon's work. I had not accomplished 
very much but there was something of reality 
in my experience. I had seen people who 
had seen and known Dean Bridgman Conner. 
I had stepped from the land of dreams and 
vague things into a position where it was 
possible to grasp something tangible. The 
American hospital was now very real. It 
was not a weird, uncanny place. It was an 
institution to care for Americans overtaken 
by illness. Even the American Minister to 
Mexico had been taken there. That showed 
the confidence of the authorities in the in- 
stitution. It did not look like a place in which 
foul plots were hatched nor in which evil 
purposes were intended against the patients. 

I could not help but recall what Mr. Boss 
had said to me that night on the train before 
we reached Zacatecas: "We Americans are 
rather proud of that hospital. It has cost us a 
good deal of money. We think it is the best 
hospital in the republic." 

And there was that other remark of Mr. 
Ayers, the cemetery superintendent: "He was 
a poor man. What would they want of him? 
He had nothing.'* 

[134] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

This led to the thought: It is rather strange 
that if this young man were being held for 
ransom his captors had never asked or notified 
anybody that they held him captive or wanted 
ransom. And as he had been an ordinary 
workman in a theatre he could not be the 
possessor of enough property of any kind to 
warrant his being kidnapped for his mere 
worldly possessions. 

And curiously enough while I was in this 
frame of mind I recalled a remark that the 
American Minister to Argentina in the early 
nineties — Minister Pitkin — had made to me. 
He said: "It is useless to try and tell the 
people of the United States anything about 
South America, for everything south of the 
Rio Grande is just simply fog bank to ninety- 
nine per cent of the people of this country." 

I could see that Mexico had been very much 
of a fog bank to me, perhaps more like one 
of those mirages I had noticed as we crossed 
the desert near Torreon on the way down. 

The next step was to find Miss Smith, 
the head niu'se, the one American who had 
seen Dean Bridgman Conner all through his 
illness in the hospital and who, Mrs. Netter- 
burgh asserted, had been with him when 
he died. She must be found and talked with, 
if possible. 

[135] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

It was possible that something might be 
known about her at the American Legation 
or at the American Consulate. I had not 
as yet visited either of these places, nor had 
I presented the letter from Secretary Olney 
to anybody. It had been my object to make 
as little fuss as possible, and to accomplish 
the rescue of Dean Bridgman Conner alone 
and as quietly as possible. 

But now that I had gone on an entirely 
new tack it seemed wise and necessary to 
present myself at the Legation and the Con- 
sulate, and when I called at both these places 
the next day I found I was not wholly un- 
expected. Evidently Mrs. Netterburgh had 
got in touch with both offices by telephone 
or otherwise after my visit to the hospital. 

Judge Sepulveda, who was in charge of the 
Legation, received me very cordially and after 
reading Secretary Olney's note assured me 
the Legation was ready to aid me in my in- 
vestigations in any way possible. I did not 
tell him I was a newspaper man and I think 
he took it for granted from the nature of 
Secretary Olney's letter that I was a govern- 
ment employee — probably a secret service 
man. He said he thought the mystery had 
been satisfactorily cleaned up by Mr. Dodge 
when the latter made his first visit to Mexico 
and had the body exhumed. He could not well 

[136] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

understand why there should have been any 
further doubts on the matter. He could not 
see how or why anybody should want to 
kidnap Dean Bridgman Conner and hold him 
a year or more for no possible reason. And 
admitting that he had been kidnapped and 
was being held for ransom, why did not his 
captors make the fact known and in some 
way demand or ask for the ransom? 

"I believe somebody is laboring under a 
delusion in this matter," said Judge Sepulveda 
gravely, "but I suppose it is necessary that 
you should get all the facts in the case, and 
I want to help you get those facts." 

I then asked him if he had ever heard of 
Miss Smith, the former head nurse in the 
hospital. This was the thing that was upper- 
most in my mind, and the Judge's answer 
gave the whole case a new and somewhat 
startling turn. 

Yes, he had known Miss Smith, and he said, 
as if to himself: "I wish I could find her; I've 
been trying to locate her for about a year. 
She doesn't know she has been cleared of the 
charge of murder in the hospital, and I want 
to let her know about it." 

"Murder.? What do you mean?" I almost 
gasped. Then he told me the following curious 
story about Miss Smith: 

Soon after the death of Dean Bridgman 

[137] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Conner slie had accidentally given one of the 
patients in the hospital some medicine from 
the effects of which he died inside of a few 
hours. In Mexico death under such circum- 
stances was classed as murder, and to escape 
this charge IMiss Smith fled from the hospital 
under somewhat romantic circumstances. 

"It was a very unfortunate affair," said 
Judge Sepulveda, "but IVIiss Smith was en- 
tirely blameless in the matter. She was passing 
through one of the wards at the time, when 
a patient asked her to pass him the medicine 
that was on a table near his bed. It was late 
in the day — very nearly dark at the time. 
On the other side of the table was another 
bed with a patient. This patient had been 
operated on and a disinfectant wash was 
being used on his wound. The wound had 
been examined, and washed, and bandaged by 
one of the physicians a short time previously, 
and this wash had been left in a glass about 
the same size as the glass containing the other 
patient's medicine, and the color of the liquid 
in both glasses was very similar. 

"Miss Smith handed the patient the glass 
nearest him on the table at the moment, but 
when he had taken a swallow of the contents 
she realized her mistake. She rushed to her 
room for her stomach pump, but could not find 
it. Somebody had taken it, without her knowl- 

[138] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

edge or consent, and it was the only one in the 
hospital. Valuable time was lost in the hunt 
for the pump, and before emetics or anything 
else could be applied the patient became un- 
conscious and died. 

"Only two courses were open to Miss Smith. 
She must give herself up to the authorities 
and await an investigation and possible trial 
for murder, or flee from the country instantly — 
before the cause of the death should be made 
known. 

"At the time there was a patient named 
Winn in the hospital. He was a Texan and he 
was convalescent. Whether out of chivalry 
or love, or both, he volunteered to escort 
Miss Smith out of the country that very 
night, and they caught a train for the north 
and were well up to the border before the 
authorities found out about the matter." 

This is in substance as Judge Sepulveda 
told me the story. In point of fact little was 
said about the matter publicly. The board of 
government of the hospital investigated the 
case, found out the exact facts, and as the 
finding was satisfactory to the Mexican authori- 
ties. Miss Smith was acquitted. But she didn't 
know that she had been acquitted, and after 
Judge Sepulveda had told me the facts he 
again said, "I wish I could locate her and let 
her know that she has been acquitted." 

[ 139 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

I then said impetuously: "Could you write 
out the acquittal in a note to her on the Lega- 
tion paper and let me have it? I may find her, 
and I would be glad to deliver it to her." 

"Certainly," said the Judge, and he at once 
took a sheet of paper, wrote the fact that 
after an investigation she had been acquitted, 
put it in an envelope, put her name on the 
envelope and handed the letter to me. 

"I have heard it rumored that she and 
Winn were married after they got into Texas," 
continued Judge Sepulveda, "but I don't 
know how true that is. I have also heard that 
they have been seen a couple of times at dif- 
ferent places in the republic, but I could never 
verify that rumor. 1 know it would be a great 
relief to her to know that she has been ac- 
quitted." 

I somehow felt that if I had the good fortune 
to find Miss Smith this letter would be of some 
value to me. And so it turned out, but I had 
no idea what I would have to go through to 
find Miss Smith, or rather Mrs. Winn. How- 
ever, the main thing was to find this woman 
who, it was said at the hospital, had been 
with Dean Bridgman Conner when he died, 
and get from her an affidavit to that effect. 

But where was I to look for this woman .f* 
Judge Sepulveda could not help me, so I called 
on Consul-General Crittenden, whose offices 

[140] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

were next door to those of the Legation. 
He was at his desk and I found him a tall, fine- 
appearing man, past middle age, but rugged 
and active, and very courteous. He talked 
as if he had expected me and he went over 
the case and told me all the facts of Dean 
Bridgman Conner's illness, death and burial. 
He also told me about Mr. Dodge's first visit 
and investigation, which ended with the ex- 
huming of the body. 

It was all logical enough. I decided not 
to ask the Consul-General any embarrassing 
questions about the grave, or the jewels which 
it was suspected Dean Bridgman Conner 
owned, and which had not been returned. I 
felt I needed the Consul-General's friendship 
in my search more than his antagonism and 
I could see that embarrassing questions or 
suspicions as to his conduct would do me no 
good then. 

So we discussed Miss Smith and her possible 
whereabouts. He had heard in a roundabout 
way that Winn had been seen within a couple 
of months at Maravatio in the state of Mich- 
oacan, but beyond the mere fact that the 
man had been seen there nothing further was 
known. He would make further inquiries, 
however, and perhaps in a day or two he would 
be able to learn something more definite. 

Consul-General Crittenden introduced me 

[141] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

to his son, who was the Assistant Consul at 
the time, and the latter took me over to the 
American Club, where we chatted for a couple 
of hours. He introduced me there to several 
Americans. However, I was unable to learn 
anything further that day about Miss Smith 
or Mr. Winn. 



[142] 



CHAPTER XVIII 

The idea of finding Miss Smith, the head 
nurse, took full possession of me, but I felt 
that even before I searched for her I had 
better see Edward Orrin, for whom Dean 
Bridgman Conner had worked at Orrin's 
Circus, which was half theatre and half circus 
and was very popular at the time with all 
classes in the City of Mexico. 

So I called on Mr. Orrin at his office the next 
day and had a long talk with him. He said 
that Conner had not been really well from 
the day he landed in the City of Mexico, nor 
had he been a well man for some time before 
his arrival in Mexico. But he had grit and 
worked, although he appeared to suffer a 
good deal at times. Finally he was taken 
down with typhoid fever at his lodging house. 

"I advanced him money while he was sick 
at the lodging house," said Mr. Orrin, "as 
he was dependent entirely on his wages. He 
had nothing." 

"Didn't he have any valuable jewels?" 
I asked. 

"Not that I know of," said Mr. Orrin. 
"He had a ring that he had purchased on the 
instalment plan — an opal, I believe — but I 

[143] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

think he sold that back to the man he bought 
it of when he was sick. He got something back 
on it — not much, I guess, for he was con- 
stantly sending to me for money. I gave orders 
that he have proper medical attendance, and 
finally I advised him to go to the American 
hospital, where he could get proper care. He 
was very weak when he went to the hospital 
and he didn't live more than a couple of weeks. 
His people provided for him at the hospital 
through the Consul-General. This idea that 
he is alive is preposterous. Why should any- 
body want to take a patient ill with typhoid 
fever from the hospital .^^ He could hardly 
move when he was taken there." 

There was no reasonable answer that could 
be made to Mr. Orrin's question, and it would 
have been ridiculous to open up the case to 
him from the standpoint of psychical research 
or on the assertion of even so celebrated a 
medium as Mrs. Piper. For there was nothing 
mysterious or occult in the Dean Bridgman 
Conner that Mr. Orrin had known. The illness 
of the young man was very real to him. He 
had known him, knew his condition, had 
provided him with money and medical at- 
tendance, had sent him to the hospital, and 
he knew that death was inevitable under the 
circumstances. But he had not seen Dean 
Bridgman Conner after the latter had entered 

[ 144 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

the hospital. In point of fact he couldn't, 
if he had wanted to, for the same reason that 
Mrs. Netterburgh had not seen him during 
his illness and after death — because typhoid 
fever was regarded as a contagious disease 
in Mexico. 

I next visited the young man's lodging 
place and heard the same story there, and I 
visited the undertaker who had furnished 
the coflin in which Dean Bridgman Conner 
was supposed to have been buried. He did 
nothing but send a coffin to the hospital. The 
burial was attended to by the hospital authori- 
ties. I could not find the man from whom 
Dean Bridgman Conner purchased the ring. 

I was engaged for several days in tracing 
the movements of Conner in the City of Mexico 
before his illness. I talked with those who 
had worked with him — Americans — and they 
said he had not been well at any time while 
he worked at the circus, and that he was very 
indiscreet in his eating and method of living. 
But he had great nerve and stuck it out at 
his work until he had to give up, and until 
the typhoid had weakened him considerably. 
This did not help him any later, after the 
disease had fastened itself on him. 

The only thing left then was to find Miss 
Smith or Mrs. Winn. So I began making 
inquiries on my own account quietly about 

[145] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Winn, and I stumbled on his whereabouts 
in a peculiar way. 

The next day after my interview with Mr. 
Orrin I walked out of the Hotel Iturbide 
after dinner with a man from Louisville, Ky., 
who was stopping at the hotel and with whom 
I had become casually acquainted. We lighted 
cigars and went for a stroll out to the Shrine 
of Guadalupe, where there is a splendid church 
— several of them — dedicated to the Virgin. 
It is the most famous shrine in Mexico and 
millions of pilgrims visit it each year. The 
miracles are said to be as wonderful as those 
at Lourdes in France. 

When we returned my companion said he 
wanted to see a friend of his, an American 
dentist, who had an office at the time almost 
directly opposite the Hotel Iturbide. I ac- 
companied him and he introduced me to the 
dentist. It was getting late in the afternoon 
and the three of us sat and chatted for some 
time. Finally I asked the dentist if he had 
ever known an American named Winn — 
F. U. Winn. 

"Yes," said the dentist, "I met him about 
two months ago at the railroad station in 
Maravatio in the state of Michoacan. I had 
been down that way at a hacienda near Zataciro 
doing some work on the teeth of the daughter 
of a wealthy haciendado. I had to go up on 

[146] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

a mining train from Maravatio to Tuxpan 
Junction, and from there I went by stage- 
coach to the hacienda. I came back the same 
way three days later, and it was while I was 
waiting at Maravatio for the train to the 
City of Mexico that I saw Winn. I don't know 
him much more than to bow to him, but before 
I had a chance to speak to him my train 
came along and I jumped aboard. I saw him 
standing on the platform when the train drew 
out. I suspect he was waiting for the mining 
train to Tuxpan Junction, and that he lives 
in the mountains up there. 

"Winn would attract attention anywhere," 
continued the dentist, "for he is more than 
six feet tall, is very thin, and he has only one 
arm." 

This description of Winn was new to me. 
I had not heard about his having only one 
arm. But there was nothing more the dentist 
could tell me about him. However, this was 
clear and definite as far as it went. The dentist 
assured me that this was the same man who 
had left the hospital with Miss Smith. That 
adventure had made Mr. Winn famous among 
the American colony in the City of Mexico, 
and he was naturally a marked man, as much 
because of that episode as because of his 
physical characteristics. 

I made up my mind that night that I would 

[147] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

go to Maravatio and begin a search for an 
American more than six feet tall with only- 
one arm. I felt sure I could find such a man 
if he were anywhere in that section of the 
country. I looked up the railroads to Mara- 
vatio and found that only one line went through 
the state of Michoacan — the National rail- 
road — and it went straight from the City of 
Mexico to Maravatio, about one hundred and 
fifty miles. This fact should make the search a 
little easier, for if Winn travelled at all he 
must travel over that road, and the engineers 
or conductors must have at least noticed 
him. How could they help it.f^ 

Before entering on this chase, however, I 
decided to talk the matter over w^ith Judge 
Sepulveda, tell him what I had learned and 
if possible get into touch with some Americans 
or oflScials in Maravatio through him. My 
reception this time was not exactly what I 
had anticipated. After I had told the Judge 
that I intended to follow Winn into the Angan- 
gueon Mountains or wherever the trail might 
lead, he looked very grave for some moments 
and said: 

"I can't give my consent to your going into 
the Angangueon Mountains at this time. They 
are having a good deal of trouble down there 
over the change in ownership of the Angangueon 
mine. That is one of the biggest mining prop- 

[148] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

erties in Mexico, and it was owned by Germans 
but has been sold to an English syndicate. 
The natives don't like the change of ownership 
and there has been a good deal of trouble at 
the mine. Some ^ve thousand natives work 
in and around the mine. It is positively dan- 
gerous to go into that country at the present 
time, and if we are going to be responsible 
for your safety, I can't give my consent to 
your going down there." 

"But I must go," I persisted. "I must 
jBnd this Miss Smith or Mrs. Winn. I must 
talk with her and get a statement from her. 
That is the only way this mystery can be 
cleared up." 

"If you go you go without my consent, and 
I will have to disclaim responsibility for your 
safety in those mountains. They are rioting 
down there and several people have been killed." 

"Well, then, I will go without your consent." 

"Suit yourself," said the Judge as he arose 
from his chair. I assured him I would take 
the responsibility. He smiled, and we parted. 

During these days in the City of Mexico 
I called several times on Mr. Boss and got his 
advice in regard to some things that bothered 
me in my search. Among other things he gave 
me a note of introduction to Mr. Orrin, as 
both were trustees of the American hospital. 
I had to be extremely cautious in my move- 

[ 149 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

ments so as not to attract too much attention, 
for there were some enterprising newspaper 
men in the City of Mexico at the time, and 
some of them were correspondents for American 
papers. I managed to avoid them, however, 
and the belief that I had been sent by the 
United States Government prevented any leaks 
at the Legation and Consulate. 



[1501 



CHAPTER XIX 

I now felt I was doing a real bit of news- 
paper work. The spirit of the chase possessed 
me. I was going to track this man Winn to 
his lair, or his house, or wherever he lived, in 
Maravatio or Zataciro, or the Angangueon 
Mountains. I had no very clear plan as yet. 
I was going to let circumstances shape my 
course. Luck was with me almost from the 
start. 

When I look back on that particular part 
of my trip I can appreciate somewhat the 
truth of that old maxim which begins "Where 
ignorance is bliss," for I certainly would not 
have been in such exuberant spirits had I 
known just what was ahead of me. However, 
as I didn't know, I went ahead and just kept 
going. 

It was a beautiful morning about the middle 
of February, 1897, when I started over the 
Mexican National railway for Maravatio in 
the state of Michoacan, about one hundred 
and fifty miles west of the City of Mexico. 
It was early when I left the hotel, and there 
were very few people about. In fact, all I 
met on my way to the railroad station was 

1151] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

a company of prisoners being marched on 
the double quick by gendarmes to the cen- 
tral prison. Friends of the prisoners trotted 
along beside them and handed them bread, 
fruit and other eatables. 

There were very few passengers on the 
train when it drew out of the City of Mexico. 
Seated in the car with me were a man and 
woman whose conversation proved them to 
be Americans. I accosted them and before 
we had gone far I learned they were a newly- 
married couple from Chicago on a honeymoon. 
They were middle-aged people and were very 
cordial, as people are wont to be when travel- 
ling in foreign countries. 

They were so happy and felt so little of 
conventional restraint, because we happened 
to be alone in the car, that they told me in 
the j oiliest manner some of their experiences 
of the preceding month in Mexico. And some 
of these experiences were ludicrous when looked 
at from the honeymoon standpoint, for Mexico 
was never intended for honeymooners with 
tender sensibilities. 

In a burst of confidence they also told me 
that this was their second venture in the 
matrimonial line and that as both of them had 
worked hard all their lives they decided to 
see a little of the world before they settled 
down in Chicago again. But just why they 

[152] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

happened to pick Mexico as a land to be ex- 
ploited on a honeymoon trip they didn't say. 
They were having a good time and they were 
then on their way to the Pacific Coast, from 
whence they intended to go by water to Cali- 
fornia. 

When the conductor came along I engaged 
him in conversation, and as I was the last 
passenger in the last car of the train he sat 
down beside me. He was an American. He 
said he had taken the tall, one-armed American 
I described several times on his train to Mara- 
vatio. He also knew that the man's name 
was Winn and that Winn always took the 
mining train that ran from Maravatio into 
the Angangueon Mountains to the Angangueon 
mine and to a point beyond the mine, known 
as Tuxpan Junction, where the mining road 
ended. This was good enough for me. I was 
on the right track so I gave myself up to sight- 
seeing and to occasional conversation with the 
Chicago honeymooners. 

The National railroad passes through a 
splendid country, skirting the Teluca range 
of mountains a part of the way and passing 
over immense chasms and around steep hills 
until it gets into a flat country west of Teluca. 
From this point to Maravatio the ride is rather 
monotonous. 

Arrived at the latter place, I wished the 

[153] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

honeymooners joy on their trip and happiness 
in the future of their lives, and they invited 
me to call on them, if ever I came to Chicago. 
I haven't been to Chicago since then. But 
the little touch of domesticity that I had 
experienced left me feeling rather lonesome as 
I stood on the platform watching the train 
roll away, and it set me to thinking of my 
own home in the far North where the ground 
was probably covered with snow, while all 
about me was sunshine and flowers and green 
foliage up the sides of the mountain range 
behind Maravatio. 

I had to wait at Maravatio several hours for 
the mining train, and here my good luck 
stood by me again. I learned that a construction 
train consisting of an engine and two flat cars 
loaded with railroad ties was going up over 
the narrow gauge mining road to Tuxpan 
Junction, ahead of the ore train to which a 
passenger coach was attached. So I went down 
to the construction train to see if I could get 
aboard in some way and thus gain a little 
time. But I found that practically all available 
space had been pre-empted by about a dozen 
uncongenial-looking peons who were seated 
on the ties and were, I learned, being taken 
up to work on the road. I could have gotten 
on with them, but at the last moment I changed 
my mind and decided to wait for the ore 

[154] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

train, which was scheduled to leave about a 
half an hour later. 

The little engines on this mining road burned 
mesquite — a hard, scrubby wood which makes 
a fire almost as hot as coal. Because of the 
heavy load of ties and peons, the engine of 
the construction train had a hard pull on the 
steep grades and emitted clouds of sparks 
from the smokestack. To avoid these sparks 
the peons all crowded on the last car, and 
because of the extra weight the coupling of 
this car broke when rounding a curve on a 
particularly steep grade. The released car 
shot backward down the grade to a sharp 
curve, where it left the track and rolled into 
a chasm, killing outright six or seven of the 
peons. 

Word of the accident was telegraphed to 
Maravatio from the mine, farther up, and the 
Jefe Politico was notified at once. That official 
with some of his assistants came rushing to 
the mining train to be taken to the scene of 
the accident, and I had to wait until they 
returned with the train. They got back to 
Maravatio about seven o'clock in the evening, 
and the result was that when I reached Tuxpan 
Junction on top of the mountains, it was about 
eight o'clock and pitch dark. 

The man in charge of the mining train was 
an Englishman and he was not very com- 

[155] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

municative. After some questioning, he said 
that he had carried Winn about a week pre- 
viously from Maravatio to Tuxpan Junction, 
and from there Winn went on horseback across 
the mountains toward Zataciro. He did not 
know exactly where Winn lived, or what he 
did, as he himself had only been in the service 
of the road and mining company a few weeks. 
The dingy little passenger coach was crowded 
with women and children from Maravatio, all 
of whom left the train at the mine; so I was 
the only passenger to Tuxpan Junction, about 
four or five miles beyond the mine. 

It was very cold as well as dark when I 
stepped from the train at Tuxpan Junction. 
In fact, I couldn't see the Junction or any- 
thing but the Englishman who had stepped 
into the darkness ahead of me with a smoky 
little lantern that had been hanging in the 
car and which was now dangling from his 
right arm. He swung the lantern and the 
train moved away slowly down to what I 
learned the next morning was a rude shed 
and roundhouse. Then I suppose the engineer 
left it, for after a few gasps from the engine, 
there was silence — the silence of night in 
the mountains, which is only equalled by the 
silence of night in the forest. 

Without saying a word the Englishman 
started down the track after the train and 

[156] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

left me standing there in the darkness. I called 
to him and he turned and stood for a moment. 
I asked him if there was any place in the 
vicinity where I could stop for the night, and 
he pointed with his lantern to a dim little 
light down the track in the direction from 
which we had come, and said: "That's a hotel." 

Then he disappeared in the darkness. 

The utter unconcern of that man in such 
a place, at such a time, and under such cir- 
cumstances is something I have never seen 
approached in all my experience, and it roused 
every bit of pride and resentment there was 
in me. I wouldn't have asked that fellow 
another question if I had had to camp there 
on the track until daylight. However, I was 
destined in a few minutes to experience the 
fullness of English hospitality from another 
source. 

I stood there for some minutes beside the 
track until my eyes became a little accustomed 
to the darkness and then I found it wasn't 
so utterly dark as I imagined on first stepping 
from the ttain. Overhead the dark blue sky 
fairly blazed with stars and I could make 
out what seemed like little mountain peaks 
— looking like cones or pyramids — a deeper 
dark against the starlit sky. But the silence 
seemed like the silence of utter desolation. 
There wasn't a movement of the air nor a 

[157] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

sound of any kind after the engine had ceased 
to gasp, and the only thing visible, on the 
level of the eyes, was the little light down 
the track. I couldn't make out a house into 
which the Englishman could have disappeared 
after he vanished. And it was cold — a sort 
of cold cold. 

I carried a little hand bag which I dropped 
for a moment while I buttoned up my light 
overcoat about my throat. Then I started 
down the track for the light. Before I reached 
it I noticed a little platform on which was a 
long, low wooden building, at the farther end 
of which was the light. I got on the platform 
and soon found the light was from a lantern 
over an open doorway. This led into a small 
room in which was a rough bar on one side 
and behind the counter stood a Mexican, 
leaning against a wooden post, with his zerape 
wrapped closely about him up to his nose. 
He wore a straw sombrero. He paid not the 
slightest attention to me when I entered. 
He didn't look at me. He seemed as if he might 
have been absorbing the contents of some of 
the bottles behind him. I dropped my bag on 
the counter almost under his nose, but that 
didn't disturb him. I spoke to him in my best 
Spanish, and told him I wanted something 
to eat and a place to sleep, and I began my 
request with the customary "Si Senor," which 

[158] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

had heretofore commanded respectful at- 
tention if nothing more. That had no effect 
on him. He wasn't asleep, for his eyes were 
wide open. He was staring into vacancy. 

I repeated my request in English. Not a 
move out of him. Then I looked around and 
noticed a door near one end of the bar, which 
was open. I stepped down to this door and 
found it led into a large room with rough 
pine tables and long wooden seats on either 
side of the tables. Down near the end of this 
room was a small lamp and under it sat a 
man, back to me, eating. He wore a sort of 
khaki miner's costume and I could just catch 
a glimpse of two revolver handles sticking 
from his belt. I guessed from the broad back 
of his head and his general build that he was 
not a Mexican. So I entered the room, walked 
up to the end of the table at which he was 
seated, dropped my bag on the table, and just 
as he turned around sideways to look up at 
me, I said: 

"English.?" 

There was both confusion and embarrassment 
on his ruddy, beardless face as he stood up 
and stared at me for a moment, saying, "Yes, 
Sir. 

Then I laughed and said: "I didn't want to 
know your nationality. I just wanted to know 
if you spoke English or any language I could 

[159] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

understand, or whether you were deaf and 
dumb like the fellow out at the bar." 

He laughed and we both sat down, but I 
kept on in the same strain, saying, "I ex- 
hausted my linguistic talents on that man who 
is standing up behind the bar and I couldn't 
get even a nod of recognition out of him. 
I don't think he knows I'm here. Has he 
lost his squaw or is it a booze trance he's 
in.?" 

The Englishman just stared at me with a 
broad grin on his face. "Now," I continued, 
'*I'm about starved. All I've had to eat since 
I left the hotel in the City of Mexico this 
morning is two half -sized bananas at Mara- 
vatio. What I want now is something to eat 
and a place to sleep." 

"I'll have you fixed up in a jiffy," said the 
young Englishman as he strode out to the 
bar. I don't know what he said or did, or what 
kind of magic he used, but whatever it was 
the Mexican came to life instantly, hustled 
into a little back kitchen and in a very short 
time brought me some fried eggs, bacon, 
beans, bread and coffee — a meal that I keenly 
relished. Meanwhile the young Englishman 
laughed until tears rolled down his cheeks as 
I commented on the magnificence of the hotel 
we were stopping at, the wonderful efficiency 
of the service, and the general air of quiet 

[160] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

that pervaded the whole place both inside 
and outside. 

My companion proved a veritable Godsend. 
His name was Vaughan. He was a fine, athletic, 
brown-haired and blue-eyed young man less 
than thirty years of age; a graduate of Oxford 
University, a civil engineer, and for the time 
being he was superintendent of construction 
of an extension of the narrow-gauge mining 
road that was being pushed across the moun- 
tainous country to the southwest, to Zataciro. 
It was also intended to connect the road with 
some other mining properties in the mountains. 
He had travelled and seen much of Europe, 
of the United States and of Mexico, and he 
was well posted on the topics of the day the 
world over. A relative was a director in the 
new syndicate that controlled the Angangueon 
mine and the railroad. 

Aside from the uncommunicative English 
conductor, an American engineer on the mining 
train and a French bridge engineer who was 
working with him, Vaughan said he hadn't 
seen a white man he could really talk to in 
three months. He was "bottled up," he said, 
in a part of Mexico that few English-speaking 
people visited. He did not know Winn, but 
he had heard of him and knew that he lived 
in a fine hacienda in the Tuxpan valley on the 
other side of the nearest mountain to the 

[ 161 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

west. Winn was reputed to be a wealthy man, 
a large land owner, but was very mysterious 
in bis movements. 

After I had finished eating, Vaughan called 
to the Mexican and the latter took us out to 
show me where I was to sleep. The hotel was 
in reality a rough wooden shack, one story 
high, and ran along the edge of the platform 
for about fifty feet. This was partitioned into 
rooms, the partitions extending only to the 
roof edge. The entrance to the rooms was 
from the platform and another door opposite 
led into the space behind the building. There 
was a little cot bed in one corner of the room 
and a tin wash-bowl and pitcher on a rough 
wooden bracket in another corner. On this 
the Mexican also placed a little lamp. The 
spaces between the wall boards were so wide 
that you could look in or out of the room, 
and the spaces between the roof boards were 
such that I could see the stars. I was glad it 
didn't rain that night. 

"I suppose you have hot and cold water, 
electric fans and stained glass windows in 
your room," I remarked to Vaughan, and he 
laughed. 

"Come along and I will show you my haci- 
enda," he said, as he stepped from the plat- 
form and led the way across the tracks with 
a lantern he got from the Mexican. There 

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The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

were a number of tracks and on one of them 
was an old freight car with a little flight of 
wooden steps leading up to the side door. 
Vaughan went up the steps, pushed the door 
aside, entered and invited me to follow. 

"This is my den," said he. And true enough 
it was. This old car was fitted up inside in 
pretty good style. In the center was a table 
with a student lamp, which he lit. On one end 
was a cot bed and on one side was a draughts- 
man's stand with inclined drawing board and 
instruments. On the other end of the car was 
a little bookcase filled with books and near 
this was a small table covered with magazines, 
including London Punch and other English 
weeklies and the best American magazines. 
There were several chairs, including a long 
canvas chair which he insisted I must occupy. 

"You certainly have brought a little of 
civilization along with you into this country," 
I remarked, as I picked up a magazine. 

"Lord! I couldn't stand it if I didn't keep 
in some sort of touch with the world!" he 
exclaimed. 

He had some good Mexican cigars and we sat 
there and chatted for hours as if we had known 
each other all our lives. Our tastes in reading 
proved to be very similar. He had been in 
cities and countries that I had been in and 
the memories of which brought us into a 

[163] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

closer intellectual sympathy. Finally I felt 
so much confidence in him that I told him just 
what had brought me to Mexico and to this 
out-of-the-way part of the world. He listened 
to the whole story with a good deal of interest. 
He was not unfamiliar with some of the work 
that had been done by Sir Oliver Lodge, 
Frederic W. H. Myers and others in the Eng- 
lish branch of the Society for Psychical Re- 
search, and I think he had some recollection of 
Mrs. Piper. 

"It is a strange old world any way you look 
at it," he remarked, "and the fact that we 
who never saw or heard of each other until 
a few moments ago should be sitting here 
in this old car on the top of these mountains, 
chatting as we are, is not the least strange 
thing about it." 

We talked about Winn and his wife's con- 
nection with the case, and we agreed that the 
death of the patient by poison may have had 
something to do with the mystery of Winn's 
movements and his seclusion here in the 
mountains. 

"They ought to be glad to see you," said 
Vaughan, "I can get you a guide and a horse 
in the morning. I know a native here who 
knows every foot of these mountains and 
I'm sure he'll know just where W^inn lives." 

It was long after midnight when he bade 

[ 164 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

me good-night at the door of my room after 
we had lighted the little lamp. The place 
no longer seemed incongruous, for I felt I was 
under the protection of a friend and a man 
who was a power in the place. But it was 
cold — so cold that I took off only my boots 
and lay down on the cot just as I was, over- 
coat and all, and wrapped the bed clothes 
around me. I was so tired that I fell asleep 
at once and slept until I was awakened by 
a loud knocking at the door, and I saw the 
sunshine through the seams in the roof and 
walls of my room. 

I jumped up, opened the door and there 
stood Vaughan in the clear, dazzling sunshine. 
He laughed as I rubbed my eyes and stepped 
out on the platform, and looked about in wonder 
at such a scene as I had never expected to see. 

Tuxpan Junction consisted of this shack of 
a hotel, a rough train shed and roundhouse 
a little way down and a number of switch 
tracks on which there were six or seven freight 
cars all occupied by natives and their families, 
and by the engineer and the conductor of the 
mining train. It was very much alive this 
morning with the native men, their women 
and children, and their hens and chickens. 
It didn't seem possible that so many living 
creatures could have been in such a quiet 
place as this was the night before. 

[165] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

But it wasn't these things that impressed 
me so much. It was the whole scene — the 
outlook. It was just a little level bowl of a 
place surrounded by mountain peaks, some of 
them rising like little cones out of the ground, 
and all covered with delicate green foliage — 
all except one that rose, bare and seared, like 
an old potter's chimney, and which was toned 
a brownish purple. 

"How high up are we here?" I asked 
Vaughan. 

"About 10,000 feet," was the answer. 

I washed my face and we both went to the 
rough dining room where several others were 
seated, eating, at the time. Then Vaughan 
told me he had been up an hour or more and 
had ridden about two miles to a hacienda 
where he secured a horse and the guide he 
had spoken to me about. This guide knew 
just where Winn and his wife lived. It was 
about a four hours' journey around the largest 
of the mountains, and I ought to be able to get 
back before nightfall. He urged me to take 
one of his revolvers, but I dechned. 

"Well," he said, "they've had trouble with 
the natives down around the mine, but we've 
had none up here, and I don't believe you'll 
have any, but be careful. I have to carry 
weapons, as a man in my position is expected 
to carry them. It is the fashion down here. 

[ 166 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Did you ever hear the story of the Scotchman 
who beheved in predestination but carried 
a revolver?" 

"No." 

"Well, he said he carried it because he might 
meet some fellow who was predestined to die 
by that particular revolver, and he didn't 
want the Lord to be disappointed." 



[167 



CHAPTER XX 

The more I thought it over, the more deeply 
convinced I became that I was approaching 
the crux of this Dean Bridgman Conner 
mystery. Mrs. Winn should be able to clear 
it up one way or the other. So it was with 
a certain sense of rehef and satisfaction, 
mingled with a Httle apprehension, that I 
mounted the horse which the guide brought 
around for me about half an hour after break- 
fast. 

Vaughan had already started for the scene 
of his labors, saying he would be back at the 
Jimction by six o'clock in the afternoon, when 
he hoped to meet me again after I had seen 
Mrs. Winn, whom he felt certain I would 
find. 

The barefooted guide had no horse. He 
trotted along ahead of me across a stubbly 
field that led to a path which skirted this 
part of the mountain, and I had to force the 
horse to a pretty good trot to keep up with 
him. The path was a tortuous one, through 
underbrush, until we got into the thin woods 
of scrubby little oaks and other stunted trees 
that flourished in this altitude. The sun just 
blazed out of a cloudless sky, and it was in- 

[168] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

tensely hot. At one point the path ran along 
the edge of a rocky declivity from which I 
could look down into a wooded gorge that 
seemed one thousand feet deep, and through 
which a small river dashed in a series of falls. 
This was in some respects the most dangerous 
part of the journey, but that little horse of 
mine was as sure-footed as a mountain goat. 

From this narrow ledge path we emerged 
into a clearing on either side of which was 
a heavy growth of underbrush and an oc- 
casional tree. This narrowed again as we 
began to round another peak, and at this 
point I got my first scare. The guide kept 
ahead of me about two hundred feet or more, 
but looked back frequently. We had been 
going about two hours when we reached this 
curving path and I was so tired and it was 
so hot that I was feeling drowsy. Of a sudden 
the horse started, and as I looked ahead I 
just saw a figure disappear in the underbrush 
between me and the guide. It aroused every 
fibre in me, and I looked sharply as we passed 
the spot but could see nothing through the 
dense undergrowth. 

For a few moments I imagined all sorts of 
things. I realized how utterly helpless I was 
in such a place. Several times I lost sight of 
the guide in the sharp turns, but my horse 
kept right on, having evidently been over 

[169] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

that path before. It seemed but a few minutes 
when the horse started again and this time 
I saw two figures emerge from one side of the 
path ahead and disappear on the other side. 
There was not a sound to be heard except 
the soft hoof beats of the horse on the turf. 
The barefooted guide was absolutely noiseless, 
and I was sure that, this time at least, he 
hadn't seen the figures that crossed our path. 

I remembered Judge Sepulveda's warning, 
also Vaughan's, and it came to me that perhaps 
I was being ambushed and that my guide 
was in league with these people. Nobody in 
the City of Mexico really knew where I had 
gone, or that I had left the city. Vaughan 
was the only person, except the guide, who 
knew where I was going, and if anything 
happened to me Vaughan might not find it 
out very soon; and if he did, what would it 
matter to him.? It would only mean that an- 
other white man, an unknown man from the 
States, had been murdered or disappeared 
in the mountains. 

I have never been able satisfactorily to 
explain even to myself the feeling that came 
over me then. It wasn't fear. It was a desire 
to fight; and I imagine it is the feeling that 
comes to any man or animal that is cornered. 
On turning a bend in the path we came to 
another clearing and the guide was about 

[170] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

the same two hundred feet ahead that he had 
been. On one side of the path was a small 
tree that had been blown down and near it 
was a stout limb about the girth and length 
of a short baseball bat. I called to the guide to 
come back and I dismounted and picked up 
the stick. He returned slowly, so I sat on the 
tree trunk and rubbed the sides of my knees, 
which were very painful owing to the short 
stirrups. 

When he got near the horse, I picked up 
the stick and stepping up to him I looked 
into his eyes to see if there was anything on 
his Aztec mind. It was more on the strength 
of sensibility than reason that I acted, and 
somehow after looking narrowly at him for 
a moment I felt satisfied that he was not a 
party to any plot that might be hatching 
against me. 

I felt satisfied of his innocence, at least, 
and mounted the horse again, but I held on 
to the stick. I told him to go ahead and off 
he started on the same kind of jog trot. About 
half an hour after this I heard a queer noise 
in the distance, as of shrieking and the sounds 
of some shrill musical instruments, with the 
occasional beat of a drum. In a little while 
we came upon the cause. 

It was a weird procession of about fifty 
natives. Some of them were playing strange 

[171] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

musical instruments and others were singing 
a kind of chant. They were all men and boys. 
The faces of some were painted, while others 
wore masks and horns and all kinds of regalia. 
It was a staa*tling kind of an outfit to meet 
in the mountains, especially after that other 
experience, but as the guide paid no attention 
to them, and as they were apparently indif- 
ferent to us, I manifested no surprise as I 
rode by them. However, it gave a tingle to 
the nerves that lasted uptil the noise of the 
chanting and the weird musical instruments 
died away in the distance. 

I later learned that these people were from 
the near-by town of Tuxpan and that they were 
practising for the annual Ash Wednesday 
festival, which is made much of by the natives 
in this part of the country. There was a 
suggestion of the Zuni snake dance in it, 
and there is no doubt but behind it all was 
something that came down through the ages — 
some relic of an ancient religious rite or cere- 
mony that was easily grafted on to the cele- 
bration of a Christian festival. 

It was not long after this when we came 
to a point where I could look down into the 
beautiful Tuxpan valley, in one corner of 
which was a very old church and a number 
of neat-looking native houses — adobe houses, 
mostly — with gardens and foliage around 

[172] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

them. It was one of the most beautiful valleys 
I have ever seen, cup shaped, with mountains 
all around and a little river flowing through 
it which fed small canals by means of which 
the fields were irrigated. There were thousands 
of acres in this valley and much of it seemed 
to be under cultivation. 

In the distance the guide pointed out to 
me the hacienda of Senor Winn, and I men- 
tally complimented the Texan for his taste 
and judgment in selecting such a place in 
which to live. What other purpose he might 
have had in coming to this remote part of 
the world and building for himself and wife 
a home, I did not consider at the moment. 
I felt that this man must be a thorough pioneer 
to do such a thing and to establish himself 
in the good graces of the natives. He must 
be a self-reliant man and I was anxious to 
meet him. 

As we entered the village and were passing 
the old church with the picturesque Moorish 
tower, I could not resist the temptation to 
dismount and enter when I saw that the door 
was open. Over the entrance was a life- 
size bas-relief in terra cotta of a Spanish con- 
quistador in helmet and corselet — a soldier 
of the time of Cortes. Inside was a very 
beautiful altar and on one wall hung a large 
painting by some Italian or Spanish artist 

[173] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

of the sixteenth century. It looked as if it 
might have been painted by Bronzino. It 
was an allegorical picture of heaven and hell. 
Many of the figures in heaven were standing 
on the edge of a bank of clouds, looking down 
with smiles on their faces at the red devils 
who were tormenting with pitchforks the naked 
residents of the underworld. 

This church, I was informed, had been 
erected by a Spanish princess to the memory 
of her brother who had been killed on the spot. 
All this occurred about four hundred years be- 
fore my visit to the place, but it showed how 
closely related religion and conquest were 
in the minds of the early Spaniards. 

After this visit we resumed our journey 
to Senor Winn's hacienda through a shaded 
road. The native children, who stood and 
stared at us, were plainly astonished at the 
gringo horseman. 

I rode up to the door of Senor Winn's hand- 
some hacienda, dismounted and knocked. Mrs. 
Winn herself came to the door. She was a very 
pleasant little woman, I should think about 
thirty-five years of age, of medium height, 
brown hair and well built. When I told her 
I had travelled from the City of Mexico espe- 
cially to see her and bring her some good 
news, she stared at me in a sort of blank 
amazement. 

[174] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

She seemed sort of dazed as she took the 
letter which I handed her. The envelope 
bore the United States Legation imprint. 
I told her to open it and read it. As she read 
the note her face flushed and at its conclusion 
she looked up with moist eyes and thanked 
me. She invited me into the house, which 
was handsomely furnished, and I then told 
her what my real mission was: to find out 
from somebody who had seen Dean Bridgman 
Conner in the hospital the exact facts of either 
his death or disappearance, and as she had 
been the head nurse in the hospital at the 
time, she surely could give me the information 
I desired. 

Mrs. Winn said that first she wanted to 
ex|plain how she came to give the poisonous 
wash to the patient who had died, and whose 
death had caused her so much trouble — in 
fact had made her a fugitive, as it were, from 
justice, never knowing when the Mexican 
authorities might locate her and throw her 
into jail. 

She said she was the only trained nurse 
in the hospital at the time and she had been 
working night and day for weeks. She was 
called at all hours of the night. When this 
particular patient called to her, as she was 
passing his cot, and asked for his medicine, 
she handed him the glass that was near him, 

[ 175 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

which proved to be a poisonous wash that 
the doctor had carelessly left there after 
attending the patient in the next cot. The 
contents of both the glasses on the table 
looked alike. After discovering her mistake 
she ran to her room to get a stomach pump, 
but, as has been said, one of the doctors had 
taken it to his office. If the pump had been 
left in the hospital the patient's life might 
have been saved. She then fled from the 
hospital in company with Mr. Winn, who was 
a patient there at that time. It was practically 
the same story Judge Sepulveda had told 
me. 

She thanked me again for the letter from 
Judge Sepulveda, which certainly must have 
taken a load from her mind, and she then 
told me about Dean Bridgman Conner in a 
straightforward and simple way. She said 
she remembered Dean Bridgman Conner very 
well; remembered how weak and pale he 
looked when he arrived at the hospital; re- 
membered taking his name and putting it on 
the typhoid fever chart and remembered that 
in the course of a few days he had grown so 
much worse that she asked him for the name 
of some near relative. At this he said to 
her: 

"Is it so bad as all that.^" 

"And I told him," said Mrs. Winn, "that 

[176] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

that was customary, so in case anything should 
happen we would know whom to inform. 
He gave me a name which I wrote on the 
back of the chart — I can't remember the 
name." 

The name is that of the boy's father, which 
is, or was, on the back of the chart as stated. 

"He grew weaker and weaker," continued 
Mrs. Winn, "and I was with him when he 
died. I allowed the body to lie in the room 
for several hours because the morgue at the 
end of the yard was not in a fit condition 
to receive it at the moment. 

"I got a suit of clothes from Mrs. Netter- 
burgh and had the body dressed, but at the 
time I decided not to put on the shoes, so I 
returned them to Mrs. Netterburgh. When 
the poor fellow was being carried out from 
the hospital to the cemetery I said, 'I've 
a good mind to put on my things and go up to 
the cemetery so that at least one American 
will be present at the grave.' But I didn't. 

"He was such a quiet, nice young man," 
she continued, "that you could not help but 
like him. He had terrible hemorrhages from 
the bowels and I knew he could not live. 
I wrote about his death once to his people 
in Burlington, Vt., but I suppose they did not 
receive the letter, as I never heard from 
them." 

[177] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

This woman's whole statement was clear 
and simple and was made without the slightest 
hesitancy and without reservation of any 
kind. The fact in regard to the shoes was 
corroborated. There were no shoes on the 
body that had been exhumed. I asked her if 
it would have been possible to remove Conner 
from the hospital during his illness. She 
said that during the last five days of his illness 
he could not have been removed. He was 
too weak. 

Mrs. Winn then signed the following state- 
ment which I drew up: 

"This is to certify, that I, Mrs. Helen 
Smith Winn, was a nurse at the American 
hospital in the City of Mexico during the 
time that Dean Bridgman Conner was a 
patient at the institution in the latter part 
of the month of February and the first half 
of the month of March, 1895; I attended the 
said Dean Bridgman Conner in the capacity 
of nu^se at the time and I was at his bedside 
when he died from the effects of typhoid 
fever. The exact time is on the chart. When 
I saw that he had breathed his last I notified 
the matron of the institution of the fact. 
The body lay in the room for some hours and 
was then removed to the morgue near the 
contagious ward of the hospital, from which 
it was removed the next day for burial, to 

[178] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

the American cemetery near by. To these 
facts I solemnly swear. 

" (Signed) Mrs. Helen Smith Winn. 
" February 24, 1897. 
"Tuxpan, Estado de Michoacan, Mexico." 

Here then was the one person who had 
seen Dean Bridgman Conner die. She had 
no reason to lie about it. She was a trained 
nurse and she knew when a person was dead. 
She was a bright, intelligent, American woman, 
of whom one patient who had been under 
her care thought so much that in her hour 
of misfortune and sorrow he decided at all 
hazards to protect her and make her his wife. 
She was mistress of this, the finest hacienda 
in the Tuxpan valley with several thousand 
acres of land. 

This woman could be believed. She told 
a straightforward story and I found there 
never had been anything in her record that 
was not open to the closest inspection. The 
board of government of the hospital had, 
after a careful examination, acquitted her of 
responsibility for the death of the patient 
to whom the poisonous wash had been ac- 
cidentally given, and this acquittal satisfied 
the Mexican government. 

While at the hospital I learned that she 
was liked by everybody, but she was over- 
worked, and had not been able to take a 

[179] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

vacation for thirteen months. As she was the 
only trained nurse in the place at the time 
she had charge of all the patients and directed 
the other nurses. She was, as a general thing, 
called up several times each night and had 
been under a severe strain for months. 

This woman could be believed. She had 
seen Dean Bridgman Conner die. She was 
with him at the time. She had closed his 
eyes after death and she thought so much 
of the young man that she would not permit 
his body to be taken to the morgue until the 
place had been properly prepared to receive it. 

Then again she and her assistants and the 
doctor were the only persons who had a right 
to enter that young man's room, owing to 
the fact that he had a contagious disease. 

As far as I could see Mrs. Winn's statement 
ended all the mystery about Dean Bridgman 
Conner's death. It satisfied me; but there were 
several things yet to be settled before those 
most interested in the fate of the young man 
would be satisfied. 

Mrs. Winn regretted that her husband was 
not at home. He had gone to Zataciro early 
in the day on horseback and was not expected 
back until late. She had lunch prepared for 
me, after which she had me dismiss my guide, 
saying that she would have the superintendent 
of the estate take me back to Tuxpan Junc- 

[180] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

tion by another and shorter route. At the 
moment I thought Httle of this, but it after- 
ward dawned on me that she did it as a pre- 
cautionary measure, because if I remember 
rightly I told her about the natives who had 
crossed our path on the way over. However, 
the guide was as inscrutable as ever when 
I dismissed him, and he trotted off without a 
murmur. 

Before I started on the return trip the 
native superintendent showed me over a part 
of the estate around the hacienda, and he 
showed me such a variety of tropical and 
temperate fruits, vegetables and cereals as 
I had never seen before and as I never sup- 
posed it possible could be grown in one place. 
It was one of the most fertile spots I had ever 
seen. 

The ride back to Tuxpan Junction was 
without incident. It was a pretty steady trot 
all the way back and took much less time than 
the trip over. 

Altogether I wasn't gone on the trip more 
than eight hours. I crossed the mountains 
at a point several thousand feet above the 
Mexican plateau. The fortunate part of it 
was that the little mining road went so far 
and so high as it did. This fact saved me 
probably several days of horseback riding. 

[181] 



CHAPTER XXI 

Physically I was tired after my ride and 
work of the day but mentally I felt exhilarated 
— the exhilaration that goes with accom- 
plishment. As well water was plenty at the 
hotel, I had a good wash, after which I found 
a chair and planted it outside the door of my 
room on the little platform. 

It was a delightful afternoon. There was 
a hum of bees in the air; butterflies flitted 
about; a rooster occasionally crowed, and the 
human note was not missing for I could hear 
a baby crying in one of the freight cars. The 
mountain peaks looked very solemn and very 
grand on all sides, but I was not in a mood 
consciously to enjoy that sort of thing. I 
was in a thinking mood. I wanted to review 
in quiet the work of the day and the impres- 
sion Mrs. Winn had made on me. 

So I lit a cigar and sat there in the shadow 
of the shack reviewing the day's work, and 
from that I thought over my whole trip from 
Boston to this out-of-the-way place which I 
had never heard of until a few days previously. 
I felt that I had finished my work in Mexico. 
I was completely satisfied that Dean Bridgman 
Conner had died of typhoid fever in the Ameri- 
can hospital and that his body had been in- 
terred in the American cemetery. All of my 

[182] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

investigations in the City of Mexico pointed 
to that conclusion but nay conversation with 
Mrs. Winn assured me of the fact. 

One might naturally ask: Why so con- 
fident of her? For the same reason one has 
confidence in anybody. A child could see 
that the woman was telling the truth, and sub- 
sequent investigations into some of her state- 
ments proved this. She had no reason to lie. 

But what next.f^ How about the expert 
testimony in regard to the teeth that had 
been taken from the upper jaw of the skull 
when Mr. Dodge had the body in grave 559 
of the American cemetery exhumed; and the 
hair that had been cut from the skull; and 
the photographs that had been taken of the 
skull .f^ Experts had pronounced against these, 
and this was apparently a very grave stumbling 
block against my own conviction that the 
young man was dead. The conclusions of the 
scientific experts who had examined the hair and 
teeth would have more weight with most people 
than all my investigations and conclusions. 

This annoyed me but I decided to face 
these experts when I got back. I did not then 
know how I would combat their conclusions. 
They were professional men, I was only a 
newspaper man, and my opinion would have 
little weight against theirs. I decided, however, 
not to bother myself about that side of the 

[183] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

question until I returned to Boston. And as 
I sat there on the Httle platform I thought 
over what Mr. Boss had said to me that night 
before the train reached Zaeatecas, about 
mind reading. But I could not yet make his 
theory wholly fit the case in hand. The thing 
that bothered me most was how Mrs. Piper 
could so accurately describe that scene from 
the Zaragoza statue on the hill of Guadalupe 
at Puebla. That was a mystery, for the time 
being at least. 

I must have been sitting on the platform 
an hour when I noticed a horseman coming 
up one of the mountain roads at a pretty 
good gait. This proved to be Vaughan re- 
turning from work. He rode up to his car, 
turned the horse over to his Mexican servant, 
waved his hand and disappeared, only to 
reappear a little later and join me. We waited 
until the train arrived from Maravatio and 
then had supper, after which we spent another 
pleasant evening in his car. 

I told him about the natives crossing the 
path during my ride and their disappearance 
in the underbrush. He explained that there 
were many paths through the brush which 
these natives knew and followed from place 
to place. The ones I saw were evidently going 
either to Zataciro or to join the procession 
I had seen. 

[184] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

He was pleased that I had found Mrs. 
Winn and he was much interested in what 
I told him about her. He agreed that it was 
reasonable to suppose she knew what she 
was talking about. 

I retired earlier this night and slept soundly. 
I relaxed somewhat the tension which I had 
been under for some time. Vaughan said he 
would call me before daylight so that I could 
get a glimpse of the Southern Cross. It was 
about ^ye o'clock when he called me for the 
purpose and the famous constellation could 
be seen just above the mountainous horizon 
line. I cannot say that I was very deeply 
impressed by the constellation at the time. 
It is probably very beautiful if seen from a 
point farther south and when it is higher 
up in the sky. The whole sky interested me 
a little later, however, when the rose tints 
of dawn began to sweep up from the east 
and obliterate the stars and touch the moun- 
tains, which seemed to come out of a gray 
mist. It was a picture never to be forgotten. 

We strolled around until breakfast was 
ready and shortly after I bade Vaughan, with 
much regret, good-bye, and departed from 
Tuxpan Junction on the train for Maravatio 
and thence for the City of Mexico, where I 
arrived in the evening. 

On the way down the mountains the train 

[ 185 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

stopped at the Angangueon mine and hitched 
on a couple of cars which were said to be 
loaded with rich and valuable ore. I had a 
glimpse of the entrance to the mine, where 
there were a number of armed men on duty. 
Some of them had old-fashioned, pearl-handled, 
decorated revolvers, as big as blunderbusses, 
in their belts. A heavily armed guard of six 
men got on the train, presumably to protect 
the precious cars of ore. The train reached 
Maravatio without incident. After dinner I 
took the train for the City of Mexico. 

The next day I called on Judge Sepulveda 
and told him what I had done. He pretended 
to be astonished and told me how foolish I 
had been. I think, however, that he suspected 
I would locate Mrs. Winn before I got through 
or he would not have given me that letter. 
The Judge, as I have said, had an idea that 
I was a United States secret service man — 
as did the Consul-General — who had been 
sent down to clear up this case. The letter 
from Secretary Olney would give this im- 
pression. I did not disclose my identity to 
either of them. 

After a few days spent in the city, sight- 
seeing, and looking up some further details 
in regard to Dean Bridgman Conner's move- 
ments, I started for the United States and 
home early on a Sunday morning. For the 

[186] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

first time since my arrival in Mexico the sky 
was overcast and the air somewhat chilly 
on the plateau. The previous evening I had 
bid good-bye to the few acquaintances I had 
made in the city. Mr. Boss was out of town, 
so I did not see him on the eve of my departure. 

There were few people in the railroad station 
when I started on my return trip. In fact, 
there were few people on the train until we 
reached the Rio Grande. 

I arrived at New Orleans in time to witness 
the picturesque Mardi Gras festival, and in 
Washington on the night of President Mc- 
Ejnley's first inauguration. The next morning 
I woke up somewhere down in Delaware, 
where the train I was in had been stalled in 
front of a freight wreck for several hours. 
I got into New York in the afternoon and into 
Boston that night and had a talk with the 
managing editor, Mr. A. A. Fowle. 

After relating to him some of my experiences 
and my conclusion in regard to the case, he 
asked the very natural question: "What are 
you going to do about the expert testimony .f^" 

I told him I saw nothing to do but face it 
and investigate that, too. He smiled. That 
seemed preposterous; but I decided to go to 
Burlington, Vt., the next day and see the 
experts. 

[187] 



CHAPTER XXII 

The next morning I started for Burlington 
and arrived there in the evening. I had tele- 
graphed Mr. Dodge and he met me at Essex 
Junction. I firmly believe he thought I had 
Dean Bridgman Conner with me, for he 
seemed a little disappointed. My telegram 
simply stated that I was coming up on that 
particular train. 

Arriving at Burlington we went to Mr. 
Dodge's house, where Dr. Sparhawk and 
Dean's father were waiting for me. Mrs. 
Dodge happened to be away at the time. Dur- 
ing supper we discussed the entire case. I 
outlined what I had done, and during the 
course of the conversation I learned for the 
first time that both Mr. Dodge and Dr. Spar- 
hawk had seen the Zaragoza statue, had been 
on the hill of Guadalupe, and had been in 
Puebla during the celebration incident to 
the unveiling of the statue, and that they 
were perfectly familiar with the scene looking 
across the city to the mountains. 

Dr. Sparhawk, it will be remembered, re- 
turned from Mexico some time before Mr. 
Dodge, and on the day of his arrival in Boston 
he went with Dr. Hodgson to Mrs. Piper's 

[188] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

house in Arlington and had a "sitting" with 
her. Then for the first time she described this 
scene from the Zaragoza statue — the one 
Mexican scene probably most emphatically 
stamped on the mind of Dr. Sparhawk. This 
was news to me — that he had seen the statue 
and had had a "sitting" with Mrs. Piper. 
When Mr. Dodge returned Mrs. Piper also 
described the scene for him. 

The following day I called on Dr. Joseph 
Lindsey, the expert who had examined the 
hair. He was regarded as one of the ablest 
physicians in Burlington. I went alone. I 
told him that I had been investigating the 
case of Dean Bridgman Conner in Mexico 
and as he had examined the hair that had 
been taken from the skull, I should very much 
like to know how he had arrived at the con- 
clusion that it was not Dean Bridgman Conner's 
hair. 

He said that in the first place he had known 
young Conner, whose hair was brown; the 
hair he had been given to examine was dark. 
Then again he had compared this hair with 
a lock that had been cut from the young 
man's head and which Mrs. Dodge had in 
her possession. The latter he found was non- 
pigmentary in character, while the hair that 
had been taken from the skull was pigmentary 
in character and was darker and coarser than 

[ 189 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Dean Bridgman Conner's hair. These were 
the points on which he based his conclusion. 

I then asked him if he was convinced in 
his own mind that the young man had had 
typhoid fever while in the American hospital. 
Yes, he was. He had seen the hospital chart, 
which, he said, had been very well kept. I 
then said to the doctor: 

"When I was about fourteen years old I 
had typhoid fever. When I went to bed my 
hair was very light in color. This hair all 
fell out and the new growth was much darker 
in color, in fact it was brown. Now, doctor, 
isn't it a fact that in extreme cases of typhoid 
fever a pigmentary change takes place in 
the hsdv? And further," I continued, "you 
must bear in mind that this body had been 
in the ground for about a year before it was 
exhumed, and, as I understand it, the hair 
that grows immediately after death is always 
coarse." 

He looked up at the ceiling in a thoughtful 
way, and then as if speaking to himself said: 
"That's so," and nodded his head several 
times. 

"Then," said I, "I don't see, doctor, as 
your former opinion or decision is worth much 
in this case if it was founded merely on what 
you have just stated." 

He started and looked sharply at me but 

[190] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

made no reply, and we both arose and walked 
toward the door. I bade him good day and 
departed. 

I then hunted up the dentist who had ex- 
amined the front teeth that had been taken 
from the upper jaw of the skull. I asked him 
how he had arrived at his conclusion regarding 
the teeth. He said he had based his opinion 
on the "recession" of the gums. I then asked 
him when he had last seen Dean Bridgman 
Conner's teeth. He thought it was seven or 
eight years before the young man's death. 
Then he had made a chart. 

It might be well to explain here that "re- 
cession" in this sense means the angle at 
which the teeth are inserted into the jaw- 
bone. 

I said to the dentist that when I had studied 
anatomy I learned that the bone formation 
of the body did not attain its normal growth 
and size until between the twenty-fifth and 
thirtieth years of a person's life, and that 
during the period of growth and thereafter 
the upper jawbone was apt to change its 
character and its angle more emphatically 
than any other bone in the body, especially 
in regard to the recession of the gums. 

He admitted this. So I told him that I did 
not see how his opinion could be regarded 
as conclusive or could have any weight under 

[1911 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

the circumstances, especially as he had not 
examined the young man's teeth for so many 
years — years of growth and change in the 
bone structure. He admitted that there was 
room for doubt. 

I could scarcely conceal the contempt I 
felt for opinions that had been founded on 
such weak and almost absurd premises, but 
which had been given — or used — with all 
the positiveness of scientific certainty and 
authority. 

I next examined the photographs of the skull. 
These had been taken with an old-time kodak 
and a poor lens, which could not possibly 
focalize a curved object like a skull. Such an 
object should have been photographed with 
a rectilinear lens, one that would bring all the 
curves into proper relations. Further, these 
photographs were slightly out of focus. They 
were of no use whatever. 

Here then were the expert opinions which 
had given so much strength to Mrs. Piper's 
statements, and to the dream behind it all. 
When analyzed, even by a layman, they 
were not worth anything. There were no 
foundations, in fact, for them. 



[m] 



CHAPTER XXIII 

Now come some rather curious things as 
a result of my investigations and conclusions. 
From the standpoint of the newspaper ideals 
of the time my mission to Mexico had not 
been the kind of success that was anticipated. 
I was expected to bring back Dean Bridgman 
Conner — alive ! That would have been a 
great exploit — a sensation ! In point of fact 
most anybody could have done that — if 
Dean Bridgman Conner were alive. There 
wasn't anybody any more disappointed than 
myself when I found that he was not alive. 

From a newspaper standpoint, or any other 
standpoint, the case was a great mystery 
because it involved dreams and the very 
latest kind of scientific investigation and 
speculation (and in some respects the oldest) 
along psychical research lines; and because 
it also involved the most eminent clairvoyant 
medium in the world — Mrs. Leonora E. 
Piper — the one clairvoyant medium in whom 
scholars and eminent men of science in several 
countries had become definitely interested. 
Her strange powers had first amazed Prof. 
William James of Harvard University and his 
amazement was no greater than that of the 

[193] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

most eminent psychologists and scientists of 
Europe who had studied and investigated her 
on the recommendation of Prof. WiUiam James. 
Mrs. Piper had been studied by Frederic 
W. H. Myers, Sir OHver Lodge, Professor 
Richet, Andrew Lang, Flammarion, Dr. Alfred 
Wallace, Paul Bourget, Prof. Henry Sidgwick, 
Edmund Gurney, Professor Hyslop, and others, 
and several of these were of the opinion that 
while she was in the trance state she had 
the power of communication with spirits of 
the known and unknown dead. Dr. Richard 
Hodgson was positive of it. So, naturally, it 
was expected that my mission to Mexico 
under the guidance of so celebrated a medium 
would be productive of one of the greatest 
sensations of the age. 

But at the time it did not occur to many 
people that important as the finding of Dean 
Bridgman Conner alive might have been, it 
was almost of equal importance, if he were 
dead, to discover exactly how he had died 
and whether or not he had died in the American 
hospital in the City of Mexico, and whether 
or not he had been buried in the American 
cemetery near the hospital. 

If it could be proved beyond dispute that he 
was alive all doubts in regard to the assumption 
that Mrs. Piper while in the trance state held 
communication with the spirits of the dead 

[194] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

must disappear, for the evidence in this case 
would be conclusive. But if, on the other 
hand, it could be proved or demonstrated that 
he had died in the American hospital as the 
natural result of his illness, and that his body 
had been interred in the American cemetery, 
the facts involved in such proof might give 
a definite clue to the mystery that attached 
to the strange clairvoyant information which 
Mrs. Piper has always given while in the 
trance state, and which has baffled, and still 
baffles, so many eminent investigators. For 
this was the first important case in psychical 
research in which a really complex problem 
had been given Mrs. Piper to solve and in 
which it was possible to take the definite 
information that she gave and prove it either 
right or wrong. And after all, truth is the most 
important thing in any investigation. 

In this particular case the data, or informa- 
tion, furnished through Mrj^. Piper and Dr. 
Hodgson happens to be susceptible of analysis; 
and all of the facts in the case are so clear 
that there is no particular difficulty in examin- 
ing and comparing her clairvoyant statements 
with the known facts and arriving at definite 
conclusions. The doubts which formerly existed 
concerning the entire truth of the facts that 
were unearthed in the course of my investiga- 
tion have all disappeared. No evidence to 

[195] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

disprove any of these facts has come to light. 

In the meantime, also, the ideas involved 
in psychical research have become more familiar 
to the general public. The literatm-e on the 
subject is more extensive and of a more easily 
understandable character than it was at the 
time of the investigation. In fact the subject 
of psychical research, and its bearings, has 
been given a literary expression which, though 
not always very clear, has had the effect of 
awakening public consciousness on the whole 
matter, and of bringing it into a wider field 
of speculation. 

So perhaps it is not surprising that the results 
of this investigation should have been received 
at the time with some bewilderment as well 
as incredulity by many people. Dr. Hodgson 
was both astonished and disappointed. He 
went into a veritable "blue funk" over the 
matter. He railed at my first brief newspaper 
article on the matter and he ridiculed the 
whole of my work on the case. And finally 
he said that if he had the means he himself 
would go to Mexico and find Dean Bridgman 
Conner — alive — and bring him back to his 
father and mother. He was certain Mrs. 
Piper's information was correct. 

This was a pretty flat challenge to me, 
although he did not make it to me personally. 
He made this statement to a reporter who 

[196] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

had been sent from the Globe to interview 
him or get his opinions on the matter, after 
the first instalment of my newspaper articles 
had been printed. 

Of course it did look like presmnption 
on the part of a newspaper man even to seem 
to contradict Mrs. Piper — or her "controls." 
And as Dr. Richard Hodgson had a splendid 
reputation as an investigator of psychic phenom- 
ena it was not surprising that his statements 
and conclusions regarding my investigations 
should find favor with many of the members 
and associates of the Society for Psychical 
Research, and with many newspaper men. 
For, looked at broadly, psychical research 
seemed then altogether too subtle and mysteri- 
ous a proposition for a layman to tackle. 

However, I knew what I had done, and I 
knew, as nobody else knew, how much of time, 
thought and study I had put into the case. 
I had worked on it for months to the exclusion 
of all other things — for the greater part of 
five months — including my studies and in- 
vestigation in the whole field of psychical 
research. And I was so thoroughly satisfied 
I was right that I did not propose to let Dr. 
Hodgson's statement go unchallenged or un- 
noticed. So I went to Gen. Charles H. Taylor, 
proprietor of the Glohe, and asked him if he 
would be willing to defray Dr. Richard Hodg- 

[197] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

son's expenses to Mexico so that he might 
rescue Dean Bridgman Conner — as he said 
he would if he had the means — and restore 
the young man, alive, to his parents and 
friends. 

General Taylor consented to defray Dr. 
Hodgson's expenses, and that fact was pub- 
lished. But Dr. Hodgson was either not very 
serious in his statement, or he cared very 
little whether Dean Bridgman Conner suffered 
in captivity, or whether the young man's 
parents and friends suffered because of this 
enforced captivity, or whether Mrs. Piper was 
right or wrong; for he never accepted General 
Taylor's offer, nor did he ever make any 
attempt to go to Mexico to clear up the mystery. 

But he did continue to insist that I was 
wrong, and he said some things which were 
not very gracious, and for which he after- 
wards apologized to me. That was about two 
years later, after he had, through corre- 
spondence, done some investigating of my 
work in Mexico. He had apparently been 
able to satisfy himseK that I was right, and 
he was heartily ashamed of the statements he 
had made about my work. I am sure it was 
a great shock to him, for he felt certain Mrs. 
Piper was right. In fact, so certain was he 
that he had a long report on the case ready 
to print, which he was obliged to destroy. 

[198] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Nor were all of the people in Burlington, 
Vt., satisfied with my conclusions, although 
Dean Bridgman Conner's mother wrote me 
and thanked me for what I had done. In 
her letter she said she had never seriously 
doubted that her boy was dead, and she also 
said — something I did not know until then — 
that Mr. Dodge had wired the young man's 
father, after the body in the American cemetery 
had been exhumed, saying that he feared 
Dean slept in the American cemetery. 

Some months after my return from Mexico 
I happened to be in Burlington and saw Mrs. 
Dodge, and she told me she had learned that 
I had not been thirteen days in Puebla and 
vicinity as I had stated. At the time, curiously 
enough, I had on a vest that I had worn in 
Mexico, and while looking through the pockets 
that morning I had found, in the inside pocket, 
my itemized and receipted bill from the Hotel 
Jardin in Puebla, covering thirteen days, and I 
showed it to her. After looking at it, she simply 
said she wished I had never gone to Mexico. 

I am not sure but even then she believed 
Dean Bridgman Conner was alive and — by 
some curious process of reasoning — that my 
visit to Mexico had simply made it impossible 
for anybody to find the young man. Dr. 
Hodgson, I learned, had taken refuge from 
further responsibility in the matter on the 

[199] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

ground that the "controls" were incensed at 
what I had done and written. They would 
have nothing more to do with the case. So 
he wouldn't. The question of humanity that 
was involved apparently did not bother either 
the spirits or Dr. Hodgson. They were more 
concerned about the ethics of the case than 
they were about the life or death of Dean 
Bridgman Conner. All this seems very petty 
now, but it was considered of much moment 
by these people, and others, at the time. 

The fact of the matter was that the effort 
to disprove my assertions and conclusions 
took up so much of the thought and attention 
of Dr. Hodgson and others that they lost 
sight of Dean Bridgman Conner. And I think 
Dr. Hodgson was also rather sorely disap- 
pointed when he found that he could not sub- 
stantiate his opinions about me. He very 
foolishly made statements — positive state- 
ments — which came back on him in a variety 
of ways. Time, which he thought would prove 
his assertions, only served to vindicate my 
work. Time, which he thought would prove 
Mrs. Piper right, didn't prove anything of 
the kind. Time, which he thought would 
prove Dean Bridgman Conner alive, only 
proved that he was dead and that he had died 
in the American hospital in the City of Mexico 
on the fifteenth of March, 1895. 

[200] 



CHAPTER XXIV 

The time has now come to look the facts 
of this entire case in the face, analyze them 
and make some reasonable, common-sense de- 
ductions from them. 

In the first place it should be clear that I 
have no quarrel with psychical research. I 
heartily sympathize with any research that 
has for its object progress in knowledge and 
I should not wish to be regarded as one who 
had any desire to retard or make light of 
research in the field of psychic phenomena. 
On the contrary, I should like to feel that in 
this case I have been able to aid rather than 
retard such research. As I unravelled the 
mystery that appeared to surround the death 
of Dean Bridgman Conner my aim was to 
get at the exact truth. And I take it that all 
those who are interested in psychical research 
also desire nothing but the truth, no matter 
how unpleasant it may be, or how disappoint- 
ing to hopes and expectations. In the pursuit 
of such truth personal feelings must be ignored 
and personal considerations should not be 
permitted to enter. 

I have no theories to offer regarding Mrs. 
Piper, except in so far as she figures in this 

[201] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

particular case, although I am not insensible 
to the fact that the deductions which it is 
possible to make from this case may apply 
to others in which she is concerned. I fully 
realize that psychic phenomena such as her 
whole case presents cannot easily be explained 
from the facts obtained in one investigation, 
even though that investigation seems to in- 
clude most, if not all, of the clairvoyant re- 
sources of Mrs. Piper. 

I know this case pretty thoroughly and I 
have pondered over it for a long time. I have 
waited in the hope that Mrs. Piper, or Dr. 
Hodgson, or somebody would shed some new 
light on the matter, or explain why it was 
that Mrs. Piper and her "controls" were so 
persistently misled in the case and were so 
palpably wrong in what might be termed 
their "occult information." 

As Dr. Hodgson, since his death, is said to 
have been in communication, through mediums, 
with some of his living friends, I had hoped 
he might throw some light on the matter; 
but he hasn't. In none of his alleged post 
mortem contributions to psychical research 
that I have seen is this case mentioned. And 
yet I am very sure it is one of the things that 
bothered Dr. Hodgson considerably for some 
years prior to his death in 1905. 

Dr. Hodgson was undoubtedly a courageous 

[202] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

investigator, but for some reason he avoided 
this case — except with a few intimate friends 
— after he found that Mrs. Piper's statements 
could not be substantiated. It completely 
upset him for a time, for he had confidently 
expected that this dramatic case would fur- 
nish all the proof necessary to convince the 
world of the truth of the spiritistic theory 
of immortality. He was the strongest of all 
the believers in spiritism. 

He had hoped to thrill the world with a 
new Revelation through what might almost 
be regarded as a miracle. Christianity and the 
old religions with their ideas of immortality 
and their hopes and fears regarding a future 
life were all to be relegated to the limbo of 
useless things in the presence of a proved and 
demonstrated spiritism and an immortality 
which should have the backing and authority 
of scientific method in its presentation to the 
world. The mental and moral attitudes of 
the world were going to be changed by a new 
revolution, for the great mysteries of life and 
death were to be revealed clearly, explicitly — 
scientifically. 

It was surely a calamity to have such a 
great dream shattered in a moment along 
with that other dream from the fabric of 
which the whole Dean Bridgman Conner case 
started. But the appalling thing about it 

[ 203 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

was that it would also shatter and crumble 
the hopes of thousands of intelligent people 
the world over who were confidently looking 
to Dr. Hodgson to give clear and unequivocal 
proof of the spiritistic theory. There is no 
doubt but it was the fear of this shock, and 
the fear of the complications which any ex- 
planation would involve him in, that decided 
Dr. Hodgson in his published reports to 
preserve a studious silence in regard to this 
case. He could not easily explain the matter. 
The facts in the case would contradict his 
spiritistic theory and would surely weaken 
faith in Mrs. Piper and her "controls." At 
best it would place both her and the "controls" 
in the category of uncertainties. And finally 
in the confusion and wreck that must ensue 
from the publication of this case would perish 
his own life work. He would be discredited. 

Then it was that he did the thing which 
he afterwards confessed to me he regretted 
— he attempted to discredit me and my work 
in the case. I was merely a sensational news- 
paper man. I had concocted my story out of 
my imagination. At one time it was a question 
in his mind if I had ever been to Mexico. 
And there were many who believed him, because 
he was rated as one of the foremost investigators 
in the field of psychic phenomena and I was 
merely a newspaper man. No further proof was 

[204] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

necessary — in the minds of a good many people. 

Naturally I resented this off-hand and 
indifferent method of attempting to dispose 
of the results of my own hard work in the 
case. So I went to the annual meeting of the 
American Branch of the Society for Psychical 
Research and publicly asked Dr. Hodgson if 
he had any new facts on the Dean Bridgman 
Conner case. He said he had not. Then I 
challenged him to contradict my evidence. 
He had nothing to say. 

Nor did he have anything to say to me 
until about two years had elapsed, when he 
apologized to me personally for some of the 
things he had said about me. Among other 
things he said, "I didn't know you were this 
kind of a newspaper man." 

But in the meantime he had investigated 
me and had ample evidence that I had been in 
Mexico; and he also found that Mrs. Piper, for 
some unknown reason, had been misinformed by 
her " controls." He didn't blame the " controls," 
but there must have been something wrong with 
Mrs. Piper. He could offer no reasonable ex- 
planation of Mrs. Piper's errors in the case. 

I pointed out to him that it might easily 
be explained from the standpoint of telepathy 
or mind reading. He said he had long ago 
rejected telepathy as an explanation of Mrs. 
Piper's powers. 

[ 205 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

I then pointed out to him that on the basis 
of mind reading her information in regard to 
this particular case could be divided into 
three distinct groups or classes. Into one 
class would fit the truths and facts about 
Dean Bridgman Conner that were previously 
well known to Mr. Dodge and the people in 
Burlington, Vt. These facts were all brought out 
at " sittings " at which Mr. Dodge was present. 
Then came a class of statements that might 
be traced to the suspicions in the mind of 
Mr. Dodge, or in the mind of Dr. Hodgson 
himself. And finally came the class of state- 
ments like the description of the scene looking 
from the Zaragoza statue that could surely 
be traced to actual visual impressions in the 
mind of some one present. Dr. Hodgson would 
not accept any such classification, nor my 
theory based on this suggestion. And he 
offered none himself. 

Then in a most casual and indifferent way 
he said a thing which showed how completely 
absorbed his mind had become in the spiritistic 
idea. He said that for a long time he had 
regulated his own life on the advice and sug- 
gestions of George Pelham — one of Mrs. 
Piper's best-known and most reliable "con- 
trols" : — and that his general health and 
bodily vigor had been much improved since 
he had followed that advice. I was going to 

[206] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

ask him if in such a case a person's own feelings 
and thoughts on the subject — the kind of 
feehngs and thoughts that would come under 
the head of conscience — might not be given 
back by the medium and thus gain such an 
added strength and force as would result in 
conviction and action. 

But I didn't ask this question for I saw it 
would only lead into a labyrinth that would 
be fruitless in results. I pointed out to him 
the importance of following this case to its 
logical conclusion, and he said he had lost 
interest in it, as he was convinced there was 
something wrong with Mrs. Piper during the 
time she had given " sittings" on the case. 

But how about the other cases she worked 
on during the same time, some of which have 
been published as important contributions to 
psychical research .^ He only smiled and said 
that these cases appeared to be all right. 

The absm-dity of this answer did not strike 
me at the time. Of course the answer would 
seem to imply that Dr. Hodgson was a little 
partial in the selection of his evidence. But 
frankly that phase of the thing did not occur 
to me then. 

So Dr. Hodgson gave up the case. I will 
attempt to explain the puzzle. But first there 
are a few things I would like to make clear 
about psychical research. 

[207] 



CHAPTER XXV 

In most of the practical affairs of life I am 
from the metaphorical state of "Missouri," 
where the passwords to citizenship are "Show 
me," or, "Prove to me," as they are likewise 
the challenges to candor. At the very thresh- 
old of this state the philosopher, prophet, 
quack, speculator or pretender of any kind 
is asked to "show" his "hand." 

But I should add that my personal citizenship 
in this great state of "Missouri" is governed 
by some mental reservations in regard to 
many things that may not appear to concern 
the practical affairs of life. These reserva- 
tions are born of the acquired knowledge that 
things in this world are not always "what 
they seem," and although I am aware of the 
danger of telling any "Missourian" that his 
mental mechanism may not be able to stand 
the strain of thinking before it is oiled up 
with knowledge, yet I venture to suggest 
that some of the most potent factors in our 
modern civilization, on its material side, are 
as mysterious in origin as the dream which 
Mr. Conner had, the illusions of an opium 
fiend, or any of the abnormal psychic phenom- 

[208] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

ena which those engaged in psychical re- 
search have been investigating. 

When in his normal state, at least, the man 
from "Missouri," like all other men, has 
limitations of the senses and consequently of 
the understanding, and he is very much the 
creature of his own habits of thought. And 
of course any man is liable to be narrow when 
the only metaphysical abstraction he indulges 
in is the virtue of self-complacency. The 
senses we have don't, as a rule, much more 
than meet the requirements of our actual 
wants. 

For instance, let us consider a few common- 
places! You from "Missouri" have such poor 
eyesight that you cannot possibly see through 
a piece of inch plank without the aid of the 
X-Ray. Further limitations of this sense of 
sight are realized when you look through a 
telescope or a microscope. Consider the tele- 
phone and think of the limitations of the sense 
of hearing through the ear alone. But the 
strange thing about it is that you cannot see 
the electric force by means of which the tele- 
phone is operated, or the electric light made 
to glow. No more can you see the steam that 
drives the engine until it comes in contact 
with air, when you see only vapor. Nor 
can you see the disturbed air that uproots 
trees in its violence and creates terror — 

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The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

the same air that arouses feelings of content- 
ment when it is calm. You see the evidences 
of force — that is all. 

Now I just want to disturb your "Mis- 
sourian" complacency long enough to make 
clear the fact that it is not the part of wisdom 
to scorn the unseen or ignore the unaccountable; 
nor to assume that things "are not" because 
you don't happen to understand them. 

This brings me to the really wonderful 
work that has been done for the world by 
the Society for Psychical Research which 
was organized in England in 1882 by a group 
of eminent men headed by the late Frederic 
W. H. Myers, whose work, "Human Per- 
sonality," set the world thinking along new 
lines when it was published. This society has 
dared enter a field of research that had been 
scorned by scientists and jeered at by the 
unthinking. The object was to secure, if 
possible, evidence of such obscure psychical 
phenomena as had been considered outside 
the pale of traditional science and beneath 
the dignity of academic investigation. 

In that field a great pioneer work has already 
been done by the members, but like all pioneer 
work it has not been wholly free from mis- 
takes nor from the errors incident to over- 
enthusiasm. The mistakes and errors, however, 
have been trivial and insignificant compared 

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The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

with the mistakes made during the progress 
and growth of physical science. 

This society, in conjunction with the Ameri- 
can branch that was subsequently founded, had 
the courage to investigate dreams, mesmer- 
ism or hypnotism, thought reading, thought 
transference, telepathy at various distances, 
automatic writing, unconscious muscular 
action, apparitions, illusions, crystal gazing, 
supernormal perception, the divining rod, 
the physical phenomena of spiritualism, and 
other matters in the realm which Professor 
Barrett describes as "that debatable border- 
land between the territory already conquered 
by science and the dark realms of ignorance 
and superstition." 

No one of its members was more serious or 
enthusiastic in the work than Dr. Richard 
Hodgson, secretary of the American branch 
of the society, but I am inclined to think 
there was considerable truth in a remark 
Prof. William James made to me one time 
when we were speaking about this case: "I'm 
afraid Hodgson has permitted himself to be 
swept from his moorings by Mrs. Piper" — 
meaning that his enthusiasm over Mrs. Piper 
had weakened his judgment in psychical re- 
search. Concerning the case itself he simply 
said with a smile: "Evidently somebody made 
a mistake." He had read my newspaper ac- 

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The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

count of the case and said he would like to 
see it written out in more detail. Unfortunately 
he died before I had it in shape to show him. 

Certainly there were no mental reservations 
in Dr. Hodgson's belief in Mrs. Piper when he 
wrote that "the chief communicators are veri- 
tably the personalities that they claim to be, 
and that they have survived the change we 
call death." 

He is not the only one entertaining this 
belief. So profound a student as Prof. W. P. 
Barrett of Trinity College in summing up the 
evidence afforded by Mrs. Piper and other 
"automatic writers" says: 

" Certainly for our own part we believe there 
is some active intelligence at work behind, 
and apart from, the automatist; an intelligence 
which is more like the deceased person it 
professes to be than that of any other we can 
imagine. And though the intelligence is pro- 
vokingly irritating in the way it evades simple, 
direct replies to questions, yet it is difficult 
to find any other solution to the problem of 
these scripts and cross-correspondences than 
that there is an attempt at intelligent co- 
operation between certain disembodied minds 
and our own."* 

Other eminent men who became similarly 
convinced were the late William T. Stead, 

*Psychical Research. By W. P. Barrett, F.R.S. 
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The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, Edmund Gurney, 
Professor Hyslop and Sir Oliver Lodge. The 
latter, who is well known for his wonderful 
work in physical science, and especially in 
wireless telegraphy, in commenting on some 
alleged communications from the late Frederic 
W. H. Myers, says: 

"He [the scientific explorer] feels secure 
and happy in his advance only when one and 
the same hypothesis will account for every- 
thing — both old and new — which he en- 
counters. The one hypothesis which seems to 
me most nearly to satisfy that condition in 
this case is that we are in indirect touch with 
some part of the surviving personality of a 
scholar, and that scholar, F. W. H. Myers." 

Many others might be cited but these are 
sufficient to show that Dr. Hodgson was not 
alone in his belief in spiritism. Prof. William 
James told me that he himself had never 
been fully convinced and that there was room 
for doubt in the evidence that had been ad- 
vanced to prove spiritism. 

I have always regretted that the Society 
for Psychical Research did not make some 
effort to investigate the late Dr. Andrew 
Jackson Davis, the man who first gave literary 
expression to the phenomena of modern spirit- 
ism, or spiritualism, and whose first book, 
"Nature's Divine Revelations," is one of the 

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The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

curiosities of literature and has only been 
equalled in its scope and character by some 
of Swedenborg's writings. It was printed in 
1847, about ten years before Darwin published 
the "Origin of Species" and the theory of 
evolution. In Davis's book, however, is a 
very complete outline of both cosmic and 
universal evolution. But the most remarkable 
thing about that book of nearly eight hundred 
quarto pages is the fact that the author was 
only twenty years old, and it was written 
from his dictation, and in the presence of 
attested witnesses, while he was in the trance 
state. He was the son of a poor shoemaker 
in western New York. He had been obliged 
to work from childhood, and had only the 
barest rudiments of an education. Yet in 
this book he discusses and explains pretty 
much everything in the heavens and the 
earth. But that is only one of a great number 
of books he wrote. He too said that the spirits 
of the dead operated through him when he 
was in the trance state. 

I knew Dr. Andrew Jackson Davis slightly 
during the latter years of his life. He retired 
from active public connection with spiritualism 
about twenty-five years before he died. Dur- 
ing the preceding quarter of a century he had 
been the dominating force in spiritualism in 
this country. In his latter years he practised 

[2141 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

medicine very quietly and in an unusual way. 
He had the use of a little room in the rear 
of a drug store on Warren Avenue, Boston, 
where he met his patients, went into a trance, 
diagnosed their cases, and if they needed 
medicine he mixed them some herb medicines 
of his own devising. In middle life he took 
up the study of medicine, went to a medical 
college, and got a degree. 

I had a curious personal experience with 
Dr. Andrew Jackson Davis, three years before 
he died, which though irrelevant in a sense, 
is yet of interest to psychical research as an 
example of what might be termed "prevision." 

Professor Lutoslowsky of the University 
of Cracow was at that time delivering a course 
of lectures on *' Poland" at the Lowell In- 
stitute, and he was the guest of Prof. William 
James in Cambridge. In point of fact Professor 
Lutoslowsky was one of the most distinguished 
psychologists of Europe, but was a good deal 
of a mystic. He was a Pole and a Roman 
Catholic, and one of the predictions he made 
in his course of lectures at the time was that 
inside of ten years there would be a great war 
among the nations of Europe out of which 
Poland would emerge once more as an in- 
dependent nation. 

At either the first or second of the lectures 
I met Professor James and he invited me to his 

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The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

home to meet Professor Lutoslowsky with 
the object of writing a newspaper interview 
to help stimulate a larger public interest in 
the lectures. Incidentally he told me what 
a remarkable man Professor Lutoslowsky was 
as a scholar and a linguist. I called at Professor 
James's house the next day and in the course 
of our talk the three of us somehow drifted into 
a discussion of psychical research, and I asked 
Professor Lutoslowsky if he had ever heard of 
Dr. Andrew Jackson Davis. He didn't catch 
the name at first and he asked me to repeat it. 
Then he thought for a moment and said : 

"Yes, I have read his books. He was the 
first man to give literary expression to modern 
spiritualism. He was a wonderful man, but 
he died a good many years ago." 

When I assured him that Dr. Davis was 
alive at the time both he and Professor James 
were astonished, for the latter had also read 
some of the works of Dr. Andrew Jackson 
Davis, and thought him dead. Then Professor 
Lutoslowsky said: "I must see him. I would 
rather meet him than any man in America." 

So I made an appointment with Dr. Davis, 
and two days later I took Professor Lutoslowsky 
to the little office in the rear of the drug store 
on Warren Avenue, and introduced him to 
the man he would rather meet "than any man 
in America." 

[216] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

They looked at each other for a moment 
as they clasped hands and then Professor 
Lutoslowsky exclaimed : " Why, you are Sweden- 
borg!" 

"Yes, I am," said Dr. Davis in a most 
off-hand way as he turned to place a bottle 
on one of the shelves. Professor Lutoslowsky 
was speechless for some moments and I stood 
there looking at them both, to see if they 
were joking. But no, they were both very 
serious and silent. Then Professor Lutoslowsky 
said: 

"How long are you going to remain with us?" 

"Let me see," said Dr. Davis as he looked 
thoughtfully about the little room. "I have 
chores enough to do that will take me about 
three years. About three more years and 
then I'll be ready to go." And he went on 
arranging his bottles again very calmly. 

"Chores.f^ chores.^^" said Professor Lutos- 
lowsky with a puzzled look on his face, "What 
do you mean by chores .f^" It was evidently a 
new word to him. 

Dr. Davis explained that he meant work 
— work that would take him about three 
years to finish. 

"Oh, now I understand," said Professor 
Lutoslowsky. "Then you are going to leave 
us in three years .f^" 

The venerable Dr. Davis — ■ he was then 

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The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

about eighty years of age — nodded his head. 

The whole thing made a rather curious 
impression on me at the moment, and I won- 
dered if Professor Lutoslowsky really believed 
that Dr. Davis was a reincarnation of Sweden- 
borg, and whether Dr. Davis believed it him- 
self. But they were both very serious and 
I said nothing. They talked on a variety of 
subjects for about ten minutes and finally 
during a pause 1 said I wanted to ask them 
both a question. They both nodded their 
heads and I said: 

"You are both men who have thought a 
good deal about life; you have been brought 
up and developed in widely different ways 
and almost on opposite ends of the world — 
I want to know what you both think of the 
question of immortality. " 

"It is the surest thing you know," said 
Professor Lutoslowsky promptly, and Dr. Davis 
said: "I wish I was as sure of everything in 
this world as I am of life in the hereafter." 

One was a Roman Catholic; one a spiritualist 
— both agreed. 

Now comes the "prevision." Dr. Davis 
died three years later, though not on the exact 
day. 

My purpose in this chapter has been to show 
that my interest in psychical research has not 
been wholly casual and to further show that 

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The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

the chief interest in this entire investigation 
into the death of Dean Bridgman Conner 
at present lies in the fact that it is, or should 
be, a valuable contribution to the whole work 
of psychical research — for certain obvious 
reasons. 



[219] 



CHAPTER XXVI 

The case of Dean Bridgman Conner when 
looked at from the standpoint of Mrs. Piper 
and her "controls" resolves itself into a fairly 
simple proposition for a newspaper man; for 
among the many vague, rambling statemxcnts 
that were made at the various "sittings" are 
several which are clear and explicit. This is 
especially true of the description of the scene 
from the Zaragoza statue. If the fundamental 
premise were true — that Dean Bridgman 
Conner was alive — then this description should 
be the means of easily and definitely locating 
and rescuing him from his enforced captivity. 

But as the fundamental premise was not 
true it is interesting to see how such a fabric 
of nonsense could have been woven out of 
"the shadow of a dream." 

I do not dispute that there is much in the 
published "Piper Phenomena," aside from this 
case, which seems incomprehensible on the 
theory of mind reading, or telepathy, or 
thought transference in any way, but I do 
hold that this entire case falls under these 
heads — in so far as Mrs. Piper's connection 
with the case is concerned. 

Although there is a difference in meaning, 

[220] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

these three terms are popularly supposed 
to mean, or relate to, the same thing. Telep- 
athy implies thought transference at a dis- 
tance and in this case it would almost seem 
as if such a thing occurred, although the clear- 
est and most definite of the alleged informa- 
tion from Mrs. Piper came during what might 
be termed "contact sittings," or at least 
"sittings" during which an interested person, 
and one having some exact or nascent knowl- 
edge of the content of the information given, 
was present. 

Of course the question will naturally arise: 
What is telepathy.^* 

It was Emerson who said in his essay on 
"The Over-Soul": "As with events, so is 
it with thoughts. When I watch the flowing 
river, which, out of regions I see not, pours 
for a season its streams into me, I see that 
I am a pensioner; not a cause, but a surprised 
spectator of this ethereal water; that I desire 
and look up, and put myself in the attitude 
of reception, but from some alien energy the 
visions come." 

In electricity and wireless telegraphy we 
may speculate about the known power neces- 
sary to transmit energy over a given space, 
but evidently in the field of telepathy — if we 
admit such a thing — there are unknown 
secrets of power which science may yet be 

[2211 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

able to fathom. For after one reads the evi- 
dence which the Society for Psychical Research 
has produced on the phenomena there is 
little room for doubt that such a thing is 
possible. 

Some of the clearest cases of telepathy — 
cases that were premeditated and worked out 
knowingly for the purpose of establishing 
positive proof — are to be found in the pub- 
lished Proceedings of the Society for Psychical 
Research for 1906, 1907 and 1908. Of these 
the most remarkable are the series of experi- 
ments made by Miss H. Ramsden and Miss 
C. Miles. These experiments were conducted 
at varying distances from twenty miles to 
one thousand miles, and although they were 
not uniformly successful some of them were 
remarkably so, and all were timed by pre- 
arrangement. Neither of these young women 
was in the trance state, however, and it is not 
recorded of either of them that the thought, 
impression or idea which was sent by the 
one and received by the other was transmitted 
by a third factor in the guise of a spirit. Miss 
Miles acted as the sender or "agent" in these 
experiments and Miss Ramsden as the receiver 
or "percipient." 

In considering telepathy one cannot easily 
get away from the idea suggested by wireless 
telegraphy, and that thought waves might 

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The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

be transmitted in a similar way if the brain 
could be regarded as a sort of dynamo. But 
unfortunately the physical laws which govern 
the transmission of electrical energy by means 
of wireless apparatus do not seem to apply 
to telepathy. In the transmission of electrical 
energy by wireless apparatus, through ether 
waves, the law of inverse ratios is all powerful 
— the farther it goes the weaker it gets. But 
in telepathy there is apparently no such law 
in operation. Some of the best telepathic 
messages, or impressions, have been received 
from those who were seriously ill or at the 
point of death. These messages or impressions 
were received by those having some degree 
of personal sympathy for, or acquaintance 
with, the sender. Perhaps the answer will be 
found in this thing we call "sympathy." 
However, that would mean a quality of force 
or power for the action of which we have no 
precedent in physics. 

To a number of investigators, after much 
study and consideration, the only explanation 
is spiritism — that an invisible spirit takes 
the impression from one mind and conveys it 
to another. That, if it were true, could be 
made to account for a great variety of psychic 
phenomena, from "devils," and automatic 
writing, to telepathy and supernormal vision. 
But there are gaps and flaws in this theory 

[ 223 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

more mysterious than the gaps and flaws 
in the theory of evolution. 

One of the greatest troubles with telepathy 
or mind reading, or thought transference of 
any kind, is the uncertainty of its operation, 
and the fact that the power is often best in 
people of little intellectual activity and of 
few intellectual resources. In fact the mani- 
festations seem to be so irregular and erratic 
that no clear clue has been had to sufficient 
data from which to formulate a law that would 
seem to govern them — a law comparable in 
its workings to any known laws in the physical 
world. But of course the same was in a measure 
true of electricity up to the time Galvani, 
Volta, Faraday and Sir Humphrey Davies 
made their discoveries. 

I conceive telepathy to be the transmission 
of occasional impressions between two minds 
that may be either under similar mental 
influences or that are in mental sympathy 
and harmony with each other at the moment. 
The more sensitive and sympathetic the minds 
the more definite the impressions. And I 
suppose the abnormal mental condition in- 
cident to the trance state makes the mind 
more susceptible at such times even to un- 
conscious or what have come to be termed 
"subliminal impressions." The thought or 
picture in the mind of the person who is 

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The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

termed the "agent" impinges apparently on 
the mind of the person known as the "per- 
cipient." 

Mrs. Jessie Benton Fremont tells somewhere 
in her memoirs — it is many years since I 
read them — of being ill for a week or more 
in a friend's house in New York State. Her 
husband, General Fremont, was at the time, 
about 1846, on an exploring expedition beyond 
the Rocky Mountains. It was in the winter 
and he had not been heard from for some 
months. On this particular night the people 
with whom Mrs. Fremont was staying went 
to an entertainment and left her alone in the 
house. While lying on a sofa she thought 
she heard the voice of her husband, or at least 
she received an impression that he was safe 
and all right. The impression aroused her 
and she became cheerful and apparently well 
on the instant, much to the surprise of her 
friends on their return. 

It subsequently transpired that at that 
moment General Fremont had seated himself 
in a room in a Utah Mormon settlement to 
write a letter to his wife in New York State. 
He and his soldiers and guides had been lost 
in the wilderness and the snowdrifts for 
more than a week previously and they had 
endured some very severe hardships during 
this time. Finally on this particular evening 

[£25] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

they came upon a Mormon settlement and 
the Mormons provided for them. After seeing 
that his soldiers were properly cared for General 
Fremont went to his own room and the first 
thought that came to him was of his wife. 
So he proceeded to write to her and tell her of 
the miraculous escape of his exploring ex- 
pedition that evening. 

As this one instance made the first impression 
on me I cite it for that reason. 

I will cite a rather peculiar incident that 
occurred to myself while in Mexico. One 
evening I was sitting in my room at the Hotel 
Iturbide in the City of Mexico when an im- 
pulse came over me to write a letter to a friend 
of mine in Connecticut whom I had not seen 
or written to for nearly three years. At about 
the same moment this friend, thinking that 
I was in Boston, sat down and wrote me a 
letter which I found on my return with another 
calling my attention to the fact that both of 
us had written on the same evening and at 
the same time. This and the case of Jessie 
Benton Fremont might be called strange 
coincidences or pure accidents, but if so they 
were somewhat remarkable. Of course one 
grave objection to telepathy is that the person 
receiving an impression has not such means 
of knowing exactly from whence it came, or 
of verifying it at the moment, as were had 

[226] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

in many of the examples cited in the reports 
of the Society for Psychical Research. 

Although the complex influence of sex on 
mental energy opens a pretty wide field for 
investigation, yet I have often thought it 
would be a most interesting field. For there 
is no doubt that during the flood tide of matu- 
rity there is an aroused mental energy at times 
between the sexes which is often of a lofty, 
intellectual character, — as in the cases of 
Dante, Petrarch, Raphael, Shakespeare, Goethe 
and Napoleon. In these men it seems to have 
bordered on the abnormal. In fact it would 
seem as if men of fine imagination and great 
mental capacity reach their intellectual apogee 
through sex influence. 

The mental organism, or the sensibilities 
of the woman, as a rule, seem to be more 
receptive at such a time than those of the man. 
She senses what is going on in the man's 
mind. The continuous force seems to lie 
in the man — he is the positive pole and the 
woman the negative, to use electrical terms. 

The point I wish to make is that the best, 
or apparently the best, mediums are women. 
They are the real mind readers. In them lies 
apparently the greater power of receptivity; 
perhaps it might have something to do with 
the fact that in them lies the preponderance 
of the secret possibilities of life and regenera- 

[227] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

tion. And after all, the subtle forces that 
operate, surround and protect this regenera- 
tive purpose in nature are the primal forces 
in life and in civilization itself. Here enter 
the joys and sorrows, the pleasures and pains, 
and nearly the whole of the sum of the sensa- 
tions that make life. 

If you want to see mind reading watch a 
mother and her baby for a little while. The 
mental ecstasy of maternity is a state known 
to every mother. Then a new vesicle is opened 
in her brain, apparently. Then she has the 
finest intuitions. I notice that Mrs. Piper's 
apparent power came to her about the period 
of maternity. 

The claim has been made by some very 
eminent men that Mrs. Piper's organism is 
an avenue of communication between the 
known dead and the living and that these 
communications are transmitted through other 
spirits, some known and some unknown, all 
of whom, however, are familiar to those who 
have had "sittings" with Mrs. Piper. Some of 
these spirits or "controls" are said to know 
how to use Mrs. Piper's organism while she 
is in the trance state and transmit communica- 
tions from other spirits, not familiar with her 
organism, to the "sitter." 

After years of investigation, as has been 
said, the only satisfactory ground which several 

[228] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

investigators have been able to take in regard 
to communications that apparently come 
through Mrs. Piper is that of spiritism — 
that these are communications from the known 
dead. The idea of telepathy although not 
openly scouted has been at least considered in- 
adequate. Dr. Hodgson used to talk in a per- 
fectly unconscious manner of his "communica- 
tors," as in the letter to the managing editor of 
the Globe, and as if it were the most natural 
thing in the world. This is exactly the way the 
ordinary spiritualist talks, but the spiritualist 
has no mental reservations about the matter. 



[229] 



CHAPTER XXVII 

Now the facts in this particular case are 
simple. The "communicators" or "controls" 
that speak apparently through Mrs. Piper and 
that have so mystified scientific investigators 
are the same ones that apparently gave out 
all the information in regard to Dean Bridgman 
Conner and verified his father's weird dream. 
There were "Dr. Phinuit," "George Pelham," 
"Imperator," "Rector," " Home " or "Homer," 
"Moses," and the others. 

It is clear then that these "controls" of 
Mrs. Piper gave the information in regard to 
Dean Bridgman Conner in Mexico. Nobody 
who reads the stenographic reports of the 
"sittings" can dispute that. So let us see, if 
possible, how this information was obtained 
and how far right the "controls" were. 

In the first place, after Mr. Conner, the 
young man's father, had had the very vivid 
dream — in which his son appeared and said 
that he was not dead but was being detained 
in Mexico for ransom or some other dark pur- 
pose — he immediately related this dream to 
Mr. and Mrs. Dodge, both of whom were 
interested in spiritualism and such phenomena. 
Then again Mr. and Mrs. Dodge were very 

[230] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

deeply concerned about this young man, so 
much so, in fact, that they had already taken 
steps to learn the exact facts concerning his 
illness and death in Mexico, even before Mr. 
Conner had the vivid dream. Mrs. Dodge 
could not reconcile herself to the idea that 
the young man was dead. She had been sus- 
picious from the beginning that something 
was wrong. 

They obtained photographs of the hospital, 
became familiar with the officials, doctors, etc., 
in the hospital, and in addition they had had 
correspondence with Dean before his sup- 
posed death. They were familiar, through this 
correspondence, with nearly every detail of 
his trip to Mexico from New York and his 
work and much of his life after his arrival in 
the City of Mexico. They had corresponded 
with Consul-General Crittenden and others. 
They knew all about Dean's illness prior to 
and during some of the time he was in the 
hospital. They obtained the hospital chart 
which detailed his illness. 

After the first communication with Dr. 
Hodgson in regard to the dream he asked 
for some of the young man's personal effects, 
for use during a "sitting" with Mrs. Piper. 
This "sitting" was fruitless. The "controls" 
apparently had never heard of Dean Bridgman 
Conner, so more "effects" were called for. 

[231] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Then Mr. Dodge, who was considerably 
stirred up over the dream, came down from 
BurHngton and in his possession were the 
letters from Mexico, the photographs of the 
young man and of the American hospital, 
in front of which stood the matron, doctors, 
nurses, etc., and finally there was his own 
sensitive mind full of suspicions. Mrs. Piper's 
" controls " had no difficulty at the next " sit- 
ting " which Mr. Dodge attended. They gave 
the young man's name, related his experiences 
during the trip from New York to Vera Cruz 
and thence to the City of Mexico, and to 
the circus in which he worked. They told of 
his illness and his trip to the hospital, his 
being kidnapped and another body put in 
his cot, which body was buried under the 
name of Dean Bridgman Conner, while the 
real Dean Bridgman Conner was taken away 
by the "south road" — whatever that meant. 
Mrs. Piper told Mr. Dodge what he already 
knew — what was on his mind, and things 
suggested by Mr. Conner's dream. 

This was really as far as Mr. Dodge's actual 
knowledge and imagination could carry the 
young man at the time; but his knowledge 
and suspicions had been verified by one who 
was regarded as an authority. That was 
enough for him, and it was enough for the 
other interested persons in Burlington. Mrs. 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Piper was unable to throw any further light on 
the matter at the time — owing to her illness, it 
was claimed. The "controls" were anxious 
that the body in grave 559 of the American 
cemetery should be exhumed to prove that they 
were right, a thought that would naturally come 
to anybody under the circumstances. 

So Mr. Dodge went to Mexico and investi- 
gated. He found some things that disturbed 
him and that added to his suspicions. The 
Consul-General had not attended the funeral 
as he had said, and the room in the hospital 
which the Consul-General indicated on the 
photograph as the one in which Dean had 
died he found was not the room; instead the 
young man had died in one of the rooms in 
the contagious ward at the rear of the main 
building, as Mrs. Piper had stated. 

It is possible, however, that Mr. Dodge 
might have learned previously, from some 
other source, of this ward in the rear of the 
hospital. So he was already more or less familiar 
with practically all of the real knowledge he 
had gained through Mrs. Piper. He succeeded 
in getting permission to have the body in 
grave 559 of the American cemetery exhumed, 
and after it had been exhumed he made up 
his mind that the body was that of Dean 
Bridgman Conner, and so wired the young 
man's father at the time — a fact which I 

[233] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

did not learn until long afterwards from the 
young man's mother. Teeth were taken from 
the upper jaw, as stated, hair was cut from 
the skull and the skull was photographed. 

Then Mr. Dodge wired Dr. Hodgson for 
more light and Dr. Hodgson, after a "sitting" 
with Mrs. Piper, sent the mysterious telegram 
in which the "control," George Pelham, said 
that Dean had been taken to "Tuxedo"; 
and Phinuit said he had been taken along 
the "south road to a country house." This 
I think is the first evidence of anything that 
may be construed as telepathy in this case — 
mind reading at a distance. 

And yet another factor should be considered 
right here — a factor which might eliminate 
telepathy and place the whole problem on the 
kind of mind reading that Mr. Boss told me 
about. That factor is Dr. Hodgson himself 
and his mental state from almost the beginning 
of the investigation. He must not be lost 
sight of, for two things must be considered 
in his connection with the case. One is that 
Mrs. Piper knew him like a book; she knew 
him better than he knew himself. And curiously 
enough he thought he knew her better than 
she knew herself. She was sensitive to his 
every mood and abnormally sensitive to him 
when she was in the trance state. 

Then again Dr. Hodgson, though apparently 

[ 234 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

cool, was in reality a very excitable man, 
especially when he was deeply interested in 
a particular problem. He knew practically as 
much about this case as did Mr. Dodge — 
after a few "sittings" — and his active mind 
was figuring and imagining all kinds of strange 
possibilities. He studied Mexico in its relation 
to this case and he had many strange opinions 
about the country and the people, all tinged 
with the mystery and fantasy of the dream itself. 

A close examination of the various "sittings" 
will reveal the high-tension mental state he 
was in. So it is entirely possible that what 
may seem like telepathy in this case was 
nothing but the reading or receiving of im- 
pressions from Dr. Hodgson's own mind; and 
the jumble of ideas may be a mixture of the 
opinions and suspicions of two or more minds 
that knew something about the case and 
happened to be present at the "sittings." 
Dr. Hodgson was present at, and directed, 
all of the "sittings," and as a rule he had one 
or more persons present who were interested 
in the case. 

And finally it must be remembered that his 
interest in the case transcended that of any 
other person, for he hoped not only to find 
Dean Bridgman Conner, but to establish on 
a convincing basis, by means of this case, 
the doctrine of spiritism. 

[ 235 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

But to come back to Mr. Dodge. He was 
very much excited during this trip to Mexico, 
as well he might be, for he was carrying the 
burden of a great responsibility and he was 
suspicious of nearly everybody. Some people 
in the City of Mexico feared he would have 
nervous prostration or something worse. Among 
other things he had been studying the "south 
road" problem, and had learned of the railroad 
which runs to Puebla, also to Orizaba and 
Vera Cruz. On the basis of the Mexican 
architecture he had seen he had speculated 
on the kind of country house Dean was likely 
to be confined in, and altogether his mind was 
in a confused state. 

He came back from Mexico with some definite 
knowledge of that country. He turned the 
hair and teeth over to experts. When these 
experts gave their conclusions Mr. Dodge's 
personal opinions regarding the body in the 
grave were smothered. Mrs. Piper and the 
dream were then backed up with the positive, 
scientific evidence of professional men well 
known in Burlington, Vt. That was enough. 

Then, at "sittings" after his return, Mrs. 
Piper or her "controls" had been able to 
trace Dean to Puebla, a place which both 
Mr. Dodge and Dr. Hodgson had considered 
as one of the places to which Dean might have 
been taken — by the "south road." And the 

[236] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

building in which he was said to be confined 
answered in a general way the character of 
many of the country buildings that Mr. Dodge 
had observed while he was in Mexico. All the 
older Mexican haciendas are pretty much 
alike in their general architectural features. 

So all that apparently was required was that 
some one should go to Puebla and institute 
a search. This he and Dr. Sparhawk did but 
without result. They saw, however, the Zara- 
goza statue, and knew the route to that statue. 
They had also felt some of the public excite- 
ment incident to the unveiling of that monu- 
ment. But they couldn't find any trace of 
Dean in Puebla, so they were ordered by Dr. 
Hodgson to go to Orizaba; and then occurred 
that wonderful series of "sittings" which 
seem like telepathy at a distance — or spiritism 
— and which pointed to the fact that Dean 
Bridgman Conner was surely in Orizaba, about 
sixty miles east of Puebla. 

Orizaba was the natural alternative in Dr. 
Hodgson's mind after the search in Puebla 
had proved futile. 

I understand spirits have no conception of 
space and that they got confused, in this 
case, between Puebla and Orizaba — a little 
matter of sixty or seventy miles. Dr. Cintz's 
establishment was not in Puebla then, it 
was in Orizaba, and both Mr. Dodge and 

[237] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

Dr. Sparhawk, while searching Orizaba, were 
in the building, out of it, and near it at dif- 
ferent times — judging from the "sittings" — 
but if they were, neither Mr. Dodge nor Dr. 
Sparhawk was aware of the fact and they 
never found any trace of either Dr. Cintz or 
his curious sanitarium in Orizaba. 

No, Mr. Dodge was very much excited 
again, and so was Dr. Hodgson, and the 
Orizaba telegrams only tended to increase Mr. 
Dodge's excitement and confusion. Dr. Hodg- 
son was sanguine that Dean would be found 
and Mrs. Piper's "controls" encouraged him 
in this belief. They gave him back his own 
excited feelings, thoughts and impressions 
about the matter at the moment. It was good 
mind reading on Mrs. Piper's part, but very 
poor psychical research on the part of Dr. 
Hodgson. 

Then Dr. Sparhawk came back to Boston 
and he went at once to Arlington with Dr. 
Hodgson and had a "sitting" with Mrs. Piper 
— that famous "sitting" when she described 
the scene from the Zaragoza statue, looking 
across the city of Puebla to the snow-capped 
mountains. That was the first time this scene 
had been described and Dr. Sparhawk was 
familiar with it. He recognized it the moment 
she described it. Mr. Dodge returned soon after 
and Mrs. Piper, while in the trance state, 

[ 238 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

described for him practically the same scene, 
with which he too was familiar. Dean then was 
near Puebla, so were Dr. Cintz and his sani- 
tarium. They were not in Orizaba — that 
must have been a mistake. But who made 
the mistake .f^ The same "controls" that made 
all the other mistakes. 

This time they must be right, however, for 
both Mr. Dodge and Dr. Sparhawk were 
familiar with the scene she described. If they 
had not seen the place I wonder if she could 
have described it. She told of the buildings 
on a hill. Nearly all large buildings or ha- 
ciendas, in this part of the country especially, 
are on rises of ground, for reasons already ex- 
plained, and nearly all the old haciendas are 
architecturally alike. 

No, it was mind reading this time — a 
vivid impression taken at close range and not 
as vague as that based on Dr. Hodgson's 
suspicions. This was clear and definite. It 
was a faithful reproduction of the picture 
that was in the minds of the " sitters," and also 
somewhat of what was in Mr. Dodge's mind 
after his latest investigations in Mexico. 

The "controls" could always tell something 
definite if somebody happened to be around 
who knew definitely that something, and ap- 
parently what was added were the suspicions of 
the same or some other mind present at the time. 

[239] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

The whole thing had reached an acute stage 
when I took it up. The failure of Mr. Dodge 
and Dr. Sparhawk did not in the least dis- 
courage those who were interested in the case. 
It raised no doubts as to the truth of Mr. 
Conner's dream, nor did it shake faith in Mrs. 
Piper. In the minds of some the failure was 
credited to a lack of skill on the part of the 
investigators. 

Dr. Hodgson was more confident than ever 
that Dean Bridgman Conner would be found 
— alive. The young man had already been 
held in captivity more than eighteen months 
and, judging from the information obtained 
from the "controls," his captors had not in 
the least relaxed their vigilance. They had 
outwitted Mr. Dodge and Dr. Sparhawk in 
spite of the spirit "controls" that aided them 
in their search. It looked like a battle of wits 
between a cruel but astute Mexican doctor — 
Dr. Cintz — and the spirit "controls" of Mrs. 
Piper. There was something very uncanny 
about this Dr. Cintz. 

So I went to Mexico, as full of the mystery 
in which the case appeared to be enshrouded 
as Mr. Dodge or anybody else, and just as 
confident that Mrs. Piper was right. I went 
to Puebla, found the Zaragoza statue where 
she said I would find it, and reached it by 
crossing the bridge on which the word "Zara- 

[240] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

goza" was cut. And the scene she described 
I found to be a perfect cameo of the real 
scene itself. There were the snow-capped moun- 
tains in the distance, and then the valley, 
and in that valley was a tiny speck of a hill 
with a building or buildings on it, and then 
came the white city over the roofs of which 
I could look into the valley, and immediately 
in front of me was the bronze equestrian 
statue of General Zaragoza. Surely Mrs. Piper 
was right. How could she be wrong in face 
of this evidence .f^ Here was the scene just as 
she described it. 

But that was all there was to it — a scene. 
She had caught the picture, but like the song 
in the "Mikado," it had "nothing to do with 
the case." It was simply the background and 
setting for Mr. Conner's dream — a real vision 
taken from the minds of Dr. Sparhawk and 
Mr. Dodge and set behind the dream vision 
of Mr. Conner. I did not know that the little 
hill in the valley was Pyramid La Grande, 
nor that the white speck on top of it was the 
great cathedral of Los Remedios. Nor were 
they conscious of it, but it was a remote and 
likely looking place, and as it was the only 
hill in the valley that had a building, or what 
looked at a distance like a group of buildings, 
it just naturally fitted the suspicion that it 
must be the place where Dean Bridgman Con- 

[241] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

ner was confined. And the little car that 
ran from the plaza to and past the pyramid 
was the "covered wagon." Here then were 
the picture and the suspicions all worked into 
a concrete semblance of something coherent 
and tangible, which fell to pieces, however, 
when submitted to the test of actual investiga- 
tion. The only out about Mrs. Piper's descrip- 
tion of the scene was the points of the com- 
pass; but then, such actualities are seldom 
tangible in a picture. 

Every bit of the fabric which had been built 
on Mr. Conner's dream by Mrs. Piper and her 
"controls" went to pieces, crumbled as I 
proceeded with my investigation, and left 
absolutely nothing for me but a research into 
the actual life of Dean Bridgman Conner 
while he was in Mexico, and the following of 
him step by step to his work in the circus, his 
illness, his death and burial. 

I talked with the people who had known 
him and worked with him, with those who 
had tended him in his illness, with the woman 
who had closed his eyes in death, with one 
of the men who had carried the body to the 
grave, and with the superintendent of the 
cemetery who saw that the grave was closed 
on the mortal remains of Dean Bridgman 
Conner. 

Then I faced the professional men who had 

[242] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

examined the hair and teeth and broke down 
their testimony. 

Surely that was enough. There was no 
missing hnk in the chain of evidence that I 
estabHshed to prove that Dean Bridgman 
Conner was dead and that he "slept" in the 
American cemetery in the City of Mexico. 
And I could find absolutely no shred of evi- 
dence to prove that he had been seen alive — 
in other than in a dream and by Mrs. Piper's 
spirit "controls" — after his corporeal death 
in the hospital. 

The actual — the proved evidence in the 
case — contradicted Mr. Conner's dream and 
Mrs. Piper's "controls" at every point. The 
facts could not be made to fit the fanciful 
theory that had been built on Mr. Conner's 
dream. But every bit of the information 
given by Mrs. Piper can be traced to the 
actual knowledge of some one present at the 
"sittings" or to the suspicions based on this 
knowledge, or both jumbled together. 



[243] 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

The question might very well be asked: 
What, if any, could be the purpose of kid- 
napping Dean Bridgman Conner? For surely 
if such a plot had been formed and carried 
out there must have been some purpose in it. 
It was suggested that he had valuable precious 
stones which were coveted. But who coveted 
them? In point of fact this young man had a 
few cheap opals and a ring with an opal setting. 
Opals were a drug on the Mexican market 
at that time. I bought a dozen or more of 
them from native lapidaries for five dollars. 
The ring, which he had purchased on the 
instalment plan, he evidently sold back to 
the original owner. He had no money with 
which to purchase valuable precious stones 
or jewelry of any kind. 

All the money Dean Bridgman Conner had 
was the wages he earned during the ten weeks 
he worked in the circus, and this — Mr. 
Orrin assured me — he usually drew in advance. 
And, during his illness, Mr. Orrin advanced 
him money. The only bit of personal property 
the young man had that was worth anything 
was the gold watch which the Consul-General 
returned to his parents with his other effects. 

[244] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

So clearly nobody with any wit would want 
to kidnap him from the American hospital 
because of his worldly possessions. His worldly 
possessions were in his trunk which had been 
sent to the hospital and was in care of the 
matron. The Consul-General returned this 
trunk, with all it contained when it came to 
the hospital, to his parents in Burlington, Vt. 

But the claim was made in the dream and 
by Mrs. Piper — or her "controls" — that 
Dean Bridgman Conner was being held for 
ransom. At first blush, and just because it 
was Mexico, that might seem plausible, and 
strangely enough it did seem plausible at the 
time. But nobody ever claimed this ransom. 
Nor is it known that anybody in Mexico after 
March 15, 1895, ever stated that Dean Bridgman 
Conner was alive and held for any such purpose. 
Certainly if anybody had kidnapped him for 
the purpose of obtaining ransom the person, 
or persons, would find it necessary to notify 
somebody before they could hope to secure 
the ransom. 

But Mrs. Piper, or her "controls," gave 
the last, fine touch of romance and mystery 
to the case when they conjured up Dr. Cintz 
and his curious sanitarium. In its fantastic 
weirdness this seems like a Paranesi picture. 
I am very sure in my own mind that that 
concoction came unconsciously from the 

[ 245 ] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

dramatic imagination of Dr. Hodgson himself, 
and that it impinged itself on the mind of 
Mrs. Piper, and that it satisfied him when 
she wrote it out in her fragmentary way. For 
Mexico was a land of mystery, and strange 
people, and strange institutions — to Dr. Hodg- 
son, and to Mr. Dodge, for that matter. And 
I accepted Dr. Cintz and his institution without 
question because I had confidence in Mrs. Piper. 

However, such an institution as Dr. Cintz 
was supposed to conduct in Mexico could 
not possibly have existed without the knowl- 
edge of the authorities at that time. The 
Mexican government of Porfirio Diaz was 
altogether too vigilant to permit that sort of 
thing, especially in the vicinity of the city of 
Puebla — one of the finest and best-governed 
cities in Mexico. And it is perfectly ludicrous 
to think of Dean Bridgman Conner being 
kidnapped for the purpose of securing his 
personal service. Of what earthly use would 
he be either as a laborer or an artisan in a 
country where labor is so cheap .f^ 

It is easy enough to see the absurdity of 
these things now, but it should be remembered 
that this was a great mystery, and that it 
started with a dream, and that the critical 
faculties of those engaged in the case were 
completely submerged in the unbounded faith 
they had in Mrs. Piper. It was only after I 

[246] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

had thoroughly investigated the case and found 
myself critically studying every detail of Mrs. 
Piper's evidence that I saw the absurdity of 
these things. 

But to understand the case clearly a few 
of the exact facts pertaining to Dean Bridgman 
Conner's illness in Mexico should be sum- 
marized briefly. When Mr. Orrin engaged 
Dean Bridgman Conner in New York to go to 
Mexico the young man complained of being 
ill. He went, however, but he did not feel well 
at any time while he was at work in the circus. 
I found that he did not take the best of care 
of himself while he was in Mexico. He was 
careless, for one thing, in regard to his eating, 
and a person on entering a foreign country 
should be extremely careful about eating. 
His vitality had been very materially sapped 
by a physical ailment which he had had before 
he went to Mexico, and when the fever came 
he did not have strength enough to resist its 
ravages. He had the worst form of typhoid 
fever and even the strongest succumb to this, 
with very few exceptions. 

After typhoid fever a patient is almost 
helpless for about a month. He cannot walk 
when he first gets out of bed, and the period 
of convalescence, as a general thing, is nearer 
two months than one. The period of delirium, 
which usually lasts several days, comes when 

[247] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

the fever is at its height. If Dean Bridgman 
Conner had been carried to Puebla during 
this period, it is safe to say that he would not 
have lived to finish the journey. 

So the whole kidnapping thing is prepos- 
terous, when looked at in a calm light, and the 
strange part of it is that a doctor like Richard 
Hodgson should have lent himself to the Mrs. 
Piper theory, or the dream theory, without 
first considering the typhoid fever and some 
of the other very essential matters in the case. 

I confess that I gave little thought at the 
time to the young man's illness; but then I 
was not called upon to consider that phase 
of the question. My duty was to follow the 
instructions given by Mrs. Piper, and if possible 
bring back the young man. It was only when 
I found that following her instructions led to 
nothing that I gave these matters considera- 
tion. It was only after I proved to my own 
satisfaction that the young man really had 
died, that I began to see the folly of Mrs. 
Piper's "information." 

Then I saw dimly what I afterwards saw 
more clearly, that the whole thing practically 
simmered down to what Mr. Boss had said 
it would that night we were in the train near 
Zacatecas — mind reading. I believed in Mrs. 
Piper when I started; I came back convinced 
that her information on the subject was wrong 

[248] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

information, even though it apparently came 
through the "controls" that have become so 
famous in the field of "spiritism." And if they 
were so palpably wrong in this case it would 
seem to be the part of prudence not to pred- 
icate too much on any of their statements. 
For they certainly were wrong in this case. 
They knew nothing except what somebody 
present at the " sittings " knew or suspected, or 
imagined — or possibly what Mr. Dodge knew 
or suspected at a distance. Yet I am not at 
all satisfied that, even at the "sittings" given 
while Mr. Dodge and Dr. Sparhawk were in 
Orizaba, it wasn't the mentality of Dr. Hodg- 
son that was reflected in the information given, 
and not that of Mr. Dodge. 

Every bit of information given by Mrs. 
Piper can be traced to mind reading — whether 
the information was correct or otherwise. 
And that is practically all that can be said 
about the case. The dream, Mrs. Piper and 
her "controls," and Dr. Hodgson were all 
wrong. Time and my own investigations have 
demonstrated that fact conclusively. The whole 
thing was a fabric of nonsense erected on a dream. 

The greatest disappointment, however, came 
to Dr. Richard Hodgson, who really felt at 
the time that he had been selected by the 
spirit world to prove through this case, beyond 
the shadow of a doubt, the new religion of 

[249] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

spiritism. Of this he was to be the great Apostle 
and he was to have as aid in its estabhshment 
a new Aaron in the person of Mrs. Piper. 

But after all what a bald, barren, unsatis- 
factory kind of an immortality was that which 
Dr. Hodgson hoped to give the world. The 
only thing about it worth a ^g was the as- 
surance of some kind of life after death — an 
assurance based on commonplaces and trivial- 
ities that bordered on the fantastic as well as the 
absurd, and which forced from Phillips Brooks 
the remark, after he had had a "sitting" 
with Mrs. Piper at one time: 

"This may be the back door into heaven, 
but I want to go in by the front door." 

But it certainly proves that Mrs. Piper is, or 
was, a mind reader when in the trance state, and 
therein lies whatever of value this case possesses 
to psychical research. It opens up, however, the 
entire question of the value of any information 
given by people in the trance state when there 
is somebody else present at the time. 

About four years after my work in this 
case the New York Herald published an inter- 
view with Mrs. Piper in which she practically 
admits the claim which I have been making 
ever since I worked on the case of Dean Bridg- 
man Conner. Among other things she made 
this statement over her own signature: 

"I have never heard anything being said 

[250] 



The Quest for Dean Bridgman Conner 

by myself while in a trance state, which might 
not have been latent in (1) my own mind; (2) 
in the mind of the sitter; (3) in the mind of 
the person who was trying to get communica- 
tions with some one in another state of ex- 
istence, or some companion present with such 
person, or (4) in the mind of some absent 
person alive somewhere else in this world." 

This is my contention in a nutshell. But 
Dr. Richard Hodgson told me that Mrs. Piper 
didn't know what she was talking about when 
she gave the New York Herald interview. 

Well, if she didn't, who does? 

In conclusion I want to give full credit 
to Mr. Boss. This case of Dean Bridgman 
Conner was really solved years before by him 
when the mining camp mediums drew a word 
picture of his father at the seances in Virginia 
City and Los Angeles. His practical mind saw 
clearly through the apparent mystery of those 
revelations. I might have eventually come to 
the same conclusion in regard to this case, 
but it was his clear statement of the case in 
which he was concerned, the night we were 
going on the train to Zacatecas, that gave 
me the clue which subsequently enabled me to 
fit all the evidence I secured into a complete 
chain and show conclusively that the case of 
Dean Bridgm_an Conner was nothing but — 
mind reading. 

[251] 



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